


Cat Paws and Love Laws

by bettyluvsjuggie



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Neighbours AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-22
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2018-12-18 19:30:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 39,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11881278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bettyluvsjuggie/pseuds/bettyluvsjuggie
Summary: Jughead Jones first meets Betty Cooper when her difficult kitty Caramel finds her way into his apartment. Betty might just grow as fond of him as her cat is.





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> So I guess I'm writing another multi-fic... this started out as an idea for a one-shot, but as I was writing it, along with some gentle persuasion from bugheadotp, it kind of grew. 
> 
> Let's see how we do, hope you enjoy :)

So far, sharing an apartment with Archie had come with a few unexpected surprises. Mostly, these consisted of Jughead bumping into Archie’s ‘friends’ leaving the bathroom when he went for a piss in the middle of the night. Another particularly disturbing instance included the time Jughead’s class had finished early and he’d walked into the apartment to see Archie doing naked push ups in the centre of the living room; that’s how the ‘you must remain clothed in all public areas of the apartment’ rule had been immediately implemented as it was a sight Jughead couldn’t risk ever seeing again.

Anyway, he’d figured that he was starting to grow used to the surprises. Apparently not.

Jughead had arrived home from class on a Friday afternoon, dumping his bag in the hallway, too tired to drag it any further. All he wanted to do was eat and fall into bed, exhausted from the long week he’d had, full of gruelling assignments and long shifts at the coffee shop where he worked part-time. He slugged into the kitchen, pulling the beanie off his head and tossing it on the counter, running a hand through his dark curls with a heavy sigh. When he turned around, Jughead’s eyes bulged at the unexpected sight they fell on and he almost tripped over his own feet, falling against the counter ungracefully.

“Archie!” he called, scrambling to the door. “Archie, where are you man?!” he growled again, just as the redhead popped his head out from his bedroom with dishevelled hair and no shirt.

“Yo Jug” he grinned boyishly, running his hand through her hair. “What’s up?”

“Archie, why the fuck is there a cat in our sink?!”

Archie’s brow creased, pulling on a shirt and jogging down the small hallway to stand next to Jughead in the kitchen, eyes landing on the small ginger feline staring back at them. “That’s a cat” he stated with a frown, “we don’t have a cat.”

“No shit, dumbass” Jughead tutted, rolling his eyes. “What the hell is it doing _here_?” Jughead asked, examining the cat from across the room. The petite orange cat had made no effort to move from the sink, just flicking its tail around the taps. “Long lost sibling?” he teased playfully, ruffling Archie’s hair and referencing the similar hue of their visitor’s fur.

“Ha ha, very funny, you _dick_ ” Archie scolded, pushing Jughead into the counter roughly, winding him slightly. “It must’ve gotten in through the window or something” he shrugged, approaching the sink. “Hey buddy” he cooed, holding his hand out for the cat to sniff, “you lost little guy?”

“Does it have a collar? That’s a thing, right?” Jughead questioned with a frown, “cats wear collars, right?”

Archie shot him an irritated look over his shoulder. “Some do, but this one doesn’t apparently” he shrugged, scratching behind its ears.

“Don’t give me that look Archie” he grumbled. “I’m a dog person, I don’t understand cats” eyes locking onto the foreign animal. “Dude, will you get him out the sink?” he grimaced, dissatisfied with a ball of fur resting in the place he washed his dishes.

Archie sighed, placing his hands around the cat, lifting it up. “Look, it’s not a him. She’s got girl parts” he mused, holding the cat out towards Jughead, who shied away hesitantly, not particularly eager to closely examine a cat’s genitals. “Jug, please tell me you’re not scared of cats,” Archie deadpanned, placing the cat down on the floor, “because that’s pathetic”.

“ _No_ ” Jughead insisted, “I’m just not used to them, Riverdale’s a dog town. Even the fucking football team’s mascot was a bulldog and the cheerleaders were _vixens_ \- foxes are more dog than cat. I have a lack of exposure” He stilled as he felt the cat rub against his leg, weaving in and out between his feet, purring softly. Jughead grimaced when he thought about how she was likely spreading orange fur all over the bottom of his pants.

“Well it looks like she likes you” Archie chuckled. “Wow Jug, you’re finally starting to have some luck with the ladies” he smirked patronisingly, clapping him on the shoulder as he started to make his way back to his room.

“Archie, where the fuck are you going?” he scowled, rooted in his place out of fear of stepping on the animal curling around his feet.

“There’s someone else with claws waiting for me in my room” Archie chuckled, winking at him. “Can’t keep her waiting.”

“This whole time?!” Jughead yelled dumbfounded, his mouth gaping open in surprise.

“Gotta let her have her rest Juggie” he shrugged with a smirk. “Good luck” he winked, nodding towards the cat.

“Wait! What am I supposed to do with her?” Jughead asked, panicked, staring down at the ginger ball of fluff that was toying with his shoelaces.

“I dunno, just put her outside or something” Archie shrugged. “I’m sure she’ll find her way back home” he crouched down, stroking her head softly, “see you later kitty, was nice to meet you.”

“Arch!” Jughead protested as his friend disappeared into his room. “Fuck” he cussed under his breath, dropping his gaze back down. Carefully, he crouched down and tried to gently push the cat from between his feet. “Hey Cat” he mumbled, offering his hand which she quickly nuzzled into, pushing her head against his palm. She continued to twirl around and snuggle into his hand for a minute or so, and Jughead let the faintest of smiles blossom on his lips at her affection. “Who do you belong to, huh?” he muttered, scratching behind her ears lightly, breathing a laugh at her grateful purrs. He was reluctantly starting to think that maybe cats weren’t so bad.

After a few more minutes of petting, he stood up and he grabbed the beanie on the side, tugging it onto his head again firmly. “Come on Cat” he called softly, “guess we ought to get back you to your owners.” He started to walk out of kitchen, but stilled when he realised he wasn’t being followed. He turned around, and spotted her sitting in the same spot on the kitchen floor. When he took a step back towards her, she rolled onto her back purring. “No!” Jughead protested, leaning down and crouching beside her again. “We gotta go Cat!” he pleaded, before shaking his head at himself, “I’m talking to a fucking cat.”

With a sigh, he scratched her belly for a few moments, wondering how the hell he was going to get her out of the apartment. “Okay” he sighed, gently scooping her up into his arms, if slightly hesitantly and standing up slowly. “Please don’t scratch me Cat” he breathed, stroking her lightly as he made his way through the living room, relieved that she seemed rather content to be held.

When he pulled open the door to his apartment, after a quick scan of the hallway his eyes fell on a blonde girl wondering up the stairwell. “Caramel!” she hissed, peering around and under items of furniture, apparently not having noticed him yet. “Caramel, where are you?” she whispered again, sounding more like a whimper this time. Jughead had figured that he’d discovered her owner without even trying.

Jughead looked down at the warm, fluffy ball in his arms. “So I guess your name is Caramel, huh Cat?” he mused, with a small smile. The girl’s head snapped up to where Jughead stood in the doorway of his apartment, a heavy sigh of relief escaping her lips when her eyes landed on the cat wrapped up in his arms.

“Oh my gosh, there you are!” she gasped, throwing her hands up. “I’m so sorry” she muttered apologetically to Jughead, shaking her head as she approached him. When she was a few paces from him, she stopped abruptly, frowning deeply at Caramel.

“What?” Jughead asked, suddenly nervous.

“How are you doing that?” she questioned curiously, her pretty green eyes growing wide as some sort of realisation sunk in.

“Doing what?” he frowned in confusion.

“She hates being held” the girl explained, pointing at where she was happily being cradled in his arms. “In fact, she hates people” she continued taking a step towards them. When Caramel spotted her coming, she lifted her head and hissed at her loudly and aggressively, stopping the girl in her tracks again. “Especially me” she sighed, running a hand over her face.

“Oh…” Jughead mumbled. “She’s been pretty friendly so far” he shrugged with a nervous laugh, scratching Caramel’s ear slightly to soothe her. “How does your own cat not like you?” he asked, only realising how rude he sounded after it was too late. “Ah shit… No that’s not what I meant… I’m sure you’re…” he rambled anxiously.

Her melodious laugh cut his babbling off. “It’s okay, don’t worry” she chuckled, her jade green eyes shining with amusement. “She’s not really my cat… My sister moved in with her boyfriend last month and they realised he was allergic. She didn’t want to give Caramel away, so I said I’d take her” she explained, holding her hand out hesitantly to Caramel, who writhed in Jughead’s arms trying to swat it away. “Unfortunately, I didn’t realise what a _pain in my ass_ she’d be” she spat moodily at towards the cat. “Sorry” she smiled up at Jughead. “You can put her down if you want, I’m sure she won’t run away from me again…” she giggled nervously.

Laughing with her, Jughead leaned down and placed Caramel on her feet. She immediately started wrapping herself around his ankles again, pushing up against his legs. When he stood up, he saw the girl staring down at Caramel with a stunned expression and if he wasn’t mistaken, she looked a little pissed off. “I can’t believe this cat” she grumbled under her breath. “I’m Betty, by the way” she smiled, offering her hand which he shook firmly.

“Jughead” he gave her a small smile in return. “Nickname” he explained simply without prompting, anticipating the same confused look he received from anyone he had ever introduced himself to in his lifetime. Instead of looking at him strangely, Betty just flashed him another bright smile.

“Nice to meet you Jughead” she chirped warmly. “ Thank you for finding this _evil_ ball of fluff” she glared at Caramel between Jughead’s feet. He laughed, looking down at her too, wondering how it was possible for a cat to look so _smug_.

“She found me actually” he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. “She set up camp in my kitchen sink” he chuckled, Betty’s laugh mixing in with his own. “Do you live in the building? I’ve not seen you around here before” Jughead asked curiously, sure he would’ve noticed the beautiful blonde and her dazzling smile by now.

“I moved in with my roommate earlier this week, we live downstairs in 4B” she explained. Jughead realised that meant she lived in the apartment right below theirs. “You might know her already… Cheryl Blossom?”

“She must have climbed up the fire escape” he mumbled, nodding to Caramel. “And, uh, yeah I know Cheryl… Are you guys friends?” Jughead asked curiously, unable to ignore the stark difference between Betty and the scary redheaded girl who had lived below them since they moved in. She particularly didn’t get along with Archie, who found a way to irk her at every opportunity.

“Technically she’s my cousin… long story” she murmured. “Anyway, I ought to get back to unpacking. Sorry about my cat breaking into your apartment, I’ll make sure to keep my windows shut for a while until she gets used to her new home” she smiled apologetically. “I guess I’ll see you around Jughead” she smiled.

Jughead crouched down, lifting Caramel from where she’d lay down across his feet. “Yeah I suppose” he offered her a small smile. “See you later Cat, you gonna go back with Betty?” he mumbled, holding her out. Betty looked somewhat hesitant to take her, which was justified when Caramel started writhing and yowling in Betty’s grip.

“For goodness sake, will you chill out for five minutes Caramel?” she muttered frustrated. “I’m still recovering from the last scratches” she breathed before Caramel managed to wriggle free and dart down the hallway. Betty and Jughead stared after her, both frozen in their place standing in the doorway of his apartment.

“Shit” she cursed, breaking into a sprint. Without much thought, Jughead took off after her, quickly shutting the apartment door after him.

It had certainly been an interesting day.

 


	2. two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've realised how much cursing is in this chapter so I apologise in advance... not for the faint of heart!

“Caramel! Come back here you little shit!” Betty hissed as she chased the cat down the hallway. When she saw Jughead’s questioning side glance at her choice of call, she just shrugged “What? She can't understand me.”

He nodded in return, shrugging, signalling his agreement. So far she'd figured that Jughead was a man of few words and that he had perhaps taken a fondness to her cat which would explain why he was wandering down the hall with her.

“Did you see where she went?” Betty asked, eyes scanning the relatively small hallway. “You’d think with fur that orange she'd be easy to spot…” she muttered under her breath when she failed to locate her.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed Jughead start to shuffle towards the window at the end of the hall. When she looked a little closer, she noticed how the curtains appeared a little bulkier on the side he was approaching, rustling a little too.

“Hey Cat” Jughead mumbled softly, pulling the curtain back hesitantly. “Hey Caramel” he cooed, reaching out to her slowly, scratching behind her ear. “You didn't tell me we were playing hide and seek Cat” Betty breathed a laugh, shaking her head in amusement. She thought it best to hang back and let Jughead deal with Caramel, since she actually seemed to like him.

( Wow, what a responsible pet owner I am, letting a stranger take care of my cat problems. )

( Definitely have to call Polly and tell her how wretched her cat is. Or my cat. Oh god, why do I have a cat?! )

Somehow while Betty had been lost in thought, Jughead had managed to coax Caramel out from the windowsill. She was now looking very happy to be cradled in his arms, rubbing her head softly against his chest. Jughead looked at Betty nervously, “Do you maybe want me to carry her downstairs?” he offered with a shy smile, probably anticipating another escape plan if he tried to hand her over again.

“That would be great” she sighed gratefully, gesturing for them to head towards the stairwell. “Instances like this are why I'm a dog person” she grumbled bitterly, mostly to Caramel who had been watching Betty wearily since Jughead had fallen into step beside her.

“I have to agree” Jughead breathed a quiet laugh. “If they're all like this, cats seem like a handful.”

“Believe me, none are like this” Betty muttered, rolling her eyes.

“I'm guessing that the hatred in your relationship isn't so one-sided?” he questioned, cautiously taking the first step into the stairwell. While holding Caramel, he seemed to be having a difficult time looking where he was stepping, without the dark curls left uncovered by his peculiar beanie falling over his eyes.

“I guess you could say that” Betty shrugged. Caramel had always been a moody cat, discontent with any person or animal that dared enter her vicinity, with the exception of her doting owner Polly, but she had been tolerable. However, in the short time span she had officially been Caramel’s owner, Betty had deemed her almost insufferable personality wise, and almost as difficult to manage practically; it wasn't the first time that week that Caramel had run away, nor the second. “In my defence… I'm pretty sure she hated me first.”

“What's wrong with Betty, huh Cat?” Jughead mumbled, and she couldn't help but bite back a laugh at the fact that he'd probably spoken more to Caramel than he had addressed Betty in their short interaction. “She seems pretty nice to me” he muttered, with a small sideways smile to Betty. “Or have you been taking mean girl tips from Cheryl?” he chuckled.

Betty giggled loudly at that, trying to stifle the laughter but not really succeeding. “You're not a fan?”

“Are you kidding? Me and Cheryl are great pals” he scoffed sarcastically. “She's fine I guess, sometimes she just takes it a little too far. It's her and Archie you gotta watch out for though, don’t wanna be caught between them” he huffed.

“Who's Archie?” she asked, grabbing her keys from her pocket as they reached her floor.

“Oh shit, he's my roommate…” he muttered quickly. “Hey Cat, will you stay still?” he pleaded as Caramel writhed in his arms, seemingly aware of where they were headed, and protesting. “Hey Betty… ah shit… you might wanna open that door… argh son of a bitch!” he yelled.

Betty quickly scrambled to the door, jabbing her key into the lock and pushing it open hastily, while Jughead quite literally wrestled with Caramel. She gently ushered him inside the apartment, abruptly slamming the door behind her. As soon as the exit was sealed, Jughead released the cat from his grip, landing on her feet nimbly and skipping away from them immediately.

“Are you okay? Did she scratch you?” Betty rushed towards him, feeling guilty that she’d made him carry her now, well aware of how painful the scratches could be, especially if you weren't used to them.

“Uh yeah, just a bit” Jughead winced, presenting his forearms to her. The tanned skin below his elbows, left uncovered by his flannel shirt, was littered with tiny red lines and a couple of nasty looking gashes. “How did she manage all that damage in the span of about 10 seconds?” he gasped dumbfounded, rotating his arms so he could inspect the damage. “She drew blood” he pointed out.

“Hey Betty, did you find h…” Cheryl sauntered into the hallway to greet her, eyes narrowing when they landed on Jughead.”What is Donnie Darko doing in my apartment?” she pouted, one blood red nail pointing towards Jughead. She had never really been one to mask her hostility.

“Nice to see you too Cheryl” Jughead grumbled under his breath, not looking up at her just continuing to examine his scratches.

“Caramel snuck into his apartment Cher” Betty explained. “She took quite a shine to him, so Jughead helped me get her back down here.”

Cheryl snorted in a very unladylike fashion. “First time a girl’s snuck into that apartment rather than out of it” she scoffed, rolling her eyes and folding her arms across her chest. When Betty’s brow furrowed in confusion, Cheryl nodded at Jughead, “not him.”

“What are you talking about?” she muttered, puzzled. Jughead lifted his gaze slightly, so his startling blue eyes were just visible from beneath the dark curtain of hair flopping over his forehead. “Archie’s a fuckboy” he shrugged nonchalantly.

“Ah yes, and how is the devil incarnate?” Cheryl tutted at the mention of Jughead’s roommate, examining her nails absentmindedly. Betty wondered what had sparked her cousin’s particular distaste for the mysterious character.

“I don't know, how are you Cheryl?” Jughead quipped with a small smirk, breathing a laugh when she shot daggers at him, “Sorry” he grinned boyishly, holding his hands up in defeat. Betty noticed how small dimples appeared when his mouth twisted into that smile… as if it wasn't charming enough. “I should get going, before I piss off Princess Blossom anymore. Sorry your highness” he bowed to her mockingly, a smirk replacing that all too appealing smile.

“Fuck off Jughead” Cheryl plastered on a faux smile, waggling her fingers at him in a wave.

“I'll see you around Betty” Jughead gave her a small tight lipped smile.

( Huh, no dimples with that one. )

“Oh god, I hope not” Cheryl groaned, before turning and slipping back into the kitchen.

“Sorry” Betty breathed a laugh, her gaze rested on where Cheryl had been stood for a moment, before she started strolling towards the door. “And sorry about Caramel, thanks for helping me out with her” she smiled up at him, noticing how he was deceptively tall when he was stood up straight.

“That's okay” he shrugged. “I was actually starting to quite like her until she ripped up my skin” he chuckled.

“I'll be sure to give her a thorough talking to about that” Betty giggled lightly. “And make sure you clean those, especially the bleeding ones, okay?”

“Sure. See you later Betty” he nodded to her before slipping out of the apartment. She stayed staring at the door for a few seconds after he left and then went to join Cheryl in the kitchen.

As soon as she crossed the threshold of the room, Cheryl was pointing at her with a stern expression. “No!” she yelled at her firmly.

“No what?!” Betty replied panicked, having been caught by surprise.

“You are not allowed to fall for him!” she barked. “We do not like those boys upstairs, that is law” she strolled over to the cupboard, pulling out a bottle of wine and two glasses and placing them on the counter.

“I'm not going to fall for him Cheryl!” Betty laughed, shaking her head amused. She'd just met him for Christ’s sakes!

“Your lovestruck smile says otherwise” she retorted with a pointed look. “Drink?” she offered, holding up an empty glass.

“Sure” Betty nodded, figuring she deserved it after a week of attending classes and moving into the new apartment. “Well he’s cute, I can't deny that” she shrugged, taking the glass from Cheryl once she’d poured it full of dark red liquid.

“He's a weirdo, take it from me” Cheryl rolled her eyes, taking a sip from her own glass. She beckoned for Betty to follow as she made her way into the living room.

“A tall, dark and handsome weirdo” Betty flopped onto the couch cushions with a sigh. “But you're right, the last thing I need is to be getting involved with the neighbours” she said, sipping her drink. “Speaking of which, what is your problem with this Archie guy?” she questioned, placing her glass down on the coffee table and turning to Cheryl who had sunk in beside her on the couch.

“I don't have a problem with Archie, I just don't like him” she muttered, seemingly avoiding Betty’s gaze.

“Isn't that the same thing?” she frowned. “Something happened between the two of you right?” she quizzed eagerly.

“Bitch, we are not going to play ‘I’m a journalism student so I can make you spill all your secrets’,” Cheryl protested to Betty's inquiries, “you know that has never worked on me.”

“True, but I always wear you down eventually Cher” she smiled brightly at her.

“Ugh, your enthusiasm for everything is infuriating” she groaned, “how are we related?”

“Still a mystery to me” Betty shrugged, reaching for her glass again. Other than their pale skin, Cheryl and Betty shared absolutely no other physical traits (arguably personality traits were direct opposites too) and even then Cheryl was certainly slightly fairer. It seemed bizarre, even for second cousins.

“In summary, you're not going to get it on with Holden Caulfield, and we’re not going to talk about Ginger Judas anymore” Cheryl clarified.

“He's ginger too?” Betty giggled excitedly. “So many redheads! That's you, Archie and Caramel just between two floors!” she chirped with laughter.

“Jeez Louise, you can't be drunk already” Cheryl rolled her eyes. “You've barely had half a glass! If that's how low your tolerance is then I've got a lot to teach you” she sighed, shaking her head. “And no more Archie talk!” she waved her hand dismissively.

“Okay, what shall we talk about then?” Betty mumbled.

“How much we hate the cat?” Cheryl offered with a shrug, tucking her legs beneath her on the couch.

“Oh my god yes.”

\--

Jughead knocked on the door to the apartment, realising he hadn't grabbed keys before rushing out to chase Caramel. He hoped that Archie was done with his amorous activities and he wouldn't be stuck outside on the doormat all evening. The growl of his stomach reminded him that he was still tired and hungry from when he’d arrived home.

Thankfully, Archie opened the door after a minute or so, clutching a bowl of cereal.

“Dude what the fuck?” Jughead pointed at the bowl. “It's gone 7pm, why are you eating cereal?”

“Fruit loops have no time limit, my friend” Archie mused, strolling back over to the couch. “And I can't be bothered to cook” he declared, flopping into the couch, turning his attention to whatever sports game was on the TV.

“Order pizza or something” Jughead walked into the apartment, closing the door behind him. He pulled off his jacket and tossed it on the messy rack they'd left by the door.

“Got no cash” Archie announced with a mouthful of cereal.

“Close your fucking mouth and I might order one” Jughead groaned, tossing the nearest item he could find at his friend, which happened to be a football, that Archie managed narrowly avoid. Jughead decided to put that down to the fact that Archie had played football throughout high school and not due to his profound lack of athleticism.

“Cheers buddy” he grinned mischievously. “Hey where's the cat?” he shouted, suddenly remembering their earlier visitor.

“Back with her owner” Jughead replied vaguely, searching for a takeout menu in their ‘leaflets and crap’ drawer (affectionately named by Archie). “Where's your friend?” he returned, noticing a lack of female company, unless she was sleeping in Archie’s room again.

“She went home… who’s the owner?”

“Her name’s Betty, she lives downstairs” he turned around to face his friend, clutching a menu in his hand. “Who's the girl?” he asked.

“The cat’s called Betty or the owner’s called Betty? And Veronica something, don't remember her surname” Archie shrugged, shovelling another spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

“Classy Arch, even by my standards” Jughead rolled his eyes at his friend’s eating and dating habits. “The cat’s called Caramel, the owner’s name is Betty… you wanna order a pizza or you wanna keep playing 20 fucking questions?”

“Pizza!” Archie yelled enthusiastically, throwing his arm that wasn't holding his bowl up in the air.

“You're a child” Jughead tutted, wandering into the kitchen so he could order the pizzas away from Archie’s chatter. Before he returned, he yelled through the wall, “HEY DO YOU WANT A BEER?”

“HELL YEAH” the reply came a few seconds later, so Jughead grabbed a couple of bottles from the fridge and headed back to the living room.

“So who’s Betty?” Archie asked. “I've never heard of a Betty here before.”

“She moved in this week” he handed him a bottle, before falling into the armchair next to the couch.

“She cute?” he asked with a smirk, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees.

“Keep it in your pants horn dog” Jughead scoffed, taking a swig of his beer. “She's Cheryl’s roommate, and relative apparently.”

“Oh shit” he gasped, falling back against the cushions. “That's gonna be interesting…” he muttered with a chuckle, bringing his beer to his lips.

“What do you mean?” Jughead frowned, not quite understanding.

“‘Cause you like her” he stated casually. “Oh don't even try and deny it” he laughed when Jughead opened his mouth to protest, “it's written all over your face.”

“How so?” he grumbled.

“You've only had a crush on like two girls since I met you! The signs are pretty rare and easy to recognise… you're not as complicated as you like to think Jug” Archie explained. “Plus when have you ever told me to ‘keep it in my pants’?”

“Well I'm working at the weekend so I don't have time to drive you to the STD clinic” Jughead smirked, narrowly missing the pillow Archie launched at him.

“I'm clean, you fucker.”

“For now” Jughead smirked, and this time he didn't manage to avoid the cushion aimed at his head. “Ah son of a bitch!”

Jughead was just about to retaliate when there was a knock at the door. “Pizza’s here!” Archie yelled, running past Jughead and grabbing the cash he’d left on the table with a laugh.

“Dick” he shouted over his shoulder before Archie opened the door.

“Love you too buddy!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you're still enjoying? Let me know with a comment (they help me write faster)


	3. three

Truthfully, Jughead had spent the week and a half since they’d met hoping to bump into Betty again (he couldn’t help but be intrigued by her). So when she burst into the laundry room on Wednesday afternoon, he had to suppress the smile that threatened to bloom. When he looked up at her again, he noticed the large bundle of fabric gathered in her arms and the stressed expression on her face, her cheeks coloured slightly pink. 

“Oh, hi Jughead” she gave him a quick tight-lipped smile before rushing to one of the free washing machines and frantically stuffing the material inside and tossing in a load of detergent. She paused a moment, before shrugging and pulling off her cardigan and throwing it in too, leaving her in just a loose white tank top. She slammed the door shut and pressed the start button, sighing heavily and turning around to lean against the machine.

“Everything okay?” Jughead asked watching her with a small smile on his face, beginning to continue to fold his clean clothes and pile them in the basket beside him.

“Nope” she said, popping the p. “Caramel peed in my bedsheets, for the _second_ time this week” Betty explained, strolling over the counters at the side of the room and pushing herself up to sit on one of them. “Lucky for me, I wasn’t in them, _this time_ ” she sighed, running a hand over her face. “Let me tell you, that is not a nice way to wake up…”

“Oh wow” Jughead raised his eyebrows, whilst simultaneously cursing himself for not being able to come up with a more intellectual (or even a slightly longer) response. He swore Betty was going to think he was a neanderthal; he’d barely been able to string a sentence together that was actually directed towards her, all he’d managed to do so far in her presence was insult her roommate and talk to the damn cat.

( What an incredible impression I must be making. )

“Urgh, she’s just acting out because she misses Polly apparently… or at least that’s what Dr Google tells Cheryl, and _of course_ you should believe everything you read on the internet. Truthfully, I think she just hates me” Betty groaned, rolling her eyes. “Sorry, I’m rambling” she smiled warmly at him, “you probably don’t want to hear about my pet troubles.”

“No… That cat and I bonded, I’m invested in her story” he smirked. “I want to know about all the hell she’s raising. Though I can’t approve of this particular act of mischief, it’s quite the step up from sneaking into your neighbour’s apartment” he grinned when Betty let out a tinkling laugh. “So, I’m guessing Polly is your sister’s name?” Jughead asked with a smile, embarrassingly eager to learn more about this girl that had been playing on his mind for a week. Something about Betty intrigued him, he just couldn’t put his finger on it.

“Yes, also known as Caramel’s number one fan. I think she’s being such a pain in the ass because she’s not used to the ‘lack of attention’ she’s getting, or the lack of the level of worship she’s grown accustomed to” Betty chuckled. “Polly has called me everyday so far to ask about Caramel and doesn’t believe me when I tell her what a nightmare her ‘precious kitty’ is” she sighed, exasperated. Jughead was fighting off the urge to smile at how enthusiastically Betty used her hands when she talked, wafting them through the air with fervour. “Honestly, I don’t know what I’m doing to make her hate me so much! She doesn’t seem to have the same vendetta against Cheryl, it’s just me she has it out for.”

“All I know is you’re braver than I am, I would have given up by now” he said honestly, tossing the last of his clothes in the basket.

“I couldn’t do that to Polly, I made a promise to her” Betty sighed. “She was devastated when she thought she was going to have to give away Caramel, I thought it was the least I could do” she smiled slightly. “She’ll get used to me eventually I’m sure, I’ve just got to hope I won’t be washing anymore cat pee out of my bedsheets any time soon” she giggled and Jughead breathed a laugh with her. He wondered whether a person could genuinely be that selfless, that determined to be helpful. If the warm, friendly smile Betty wore on her face was any indication, Jughead suspected the answer to that was yes.

“Nice people like you make the rest of us look bad...” Jughead shook his head with a laugh. “I’m sure she’ll come around soon” he reassured, smiling slightly.

“Well she liked you easy enough!” Betty chuckled, playfully exasperated. “Want to share your secret? Pretty please?”

“I have scratches that suggest otherwise. If there’s a secret, I don’t know it” he shrugged, hauling the basket off the side, so he could make a move to leave, if somewhat reluctantly.

He was just about to open his mouth to bid her goodbye when the door to laundry room swung open, revealing Archie running in and slamming it behind him, looking somewhat red in the face. “Phew... oh hey Juggie!” he grinned boyishly, pushing the hair back that had fallen across his forehead. “‘Sup?”

“Archie?” he narrowed his eyes questioningly, silently asking why he had arrived in the room with such urgency. He placed his laundry basket back on the table, suspecting this explanation would not be simple. How could he tell? Archie Andrews was involved.

“I was getting mail” he started, holding up the enveloped in his hand to support his statement. “Then Cheryl walked into the lobby and I _do not_ feel like poking the dragon today... so I ran” he shrugged with a smirk, apparently he was either unaware or unphased by his profound immaturity.

“Ah, so _you’re_ Archie” Betty piped up, causing Archie to spin on his heel with to look for the voice’s source. When he spotted her sitting on the counter Betty waved at him, offering him a small smile. Archie’s eyes darted between her and Jughead before he broke into a grin, a look of realisation coming over his face.

“Do my eyes deceive me or is Jughead talking to a pretty girl?” he chuckled at the traitorous blush blossoming on Jughead’s face. “I take it you’re Betty? I’m Archie Andrews” he offered her his hand, which she shook with a smile. “Wow, I can’t believe Jughead didn’t tell me how beautiful you are” he smirked, his eyes clearly wandering over her. “I mean, honestly, if you were any hotter, you’d set the building on fire” he said, unashamedly flirting with her - much to Jughead’s disbelief (and distaste).

“Wow really?” she giggled, and for a moment Jughead’s heart sank, thinking that she might be returning his flirtations. “Come on, that’s an awful line! I’m sorry, but no chance” she smiled sweetly back at him. “Besides, I have a feeling that you have a complicated past with my cousin, and I would rather not get involved with that” she shrugged with a sheepish smile, effectively shattering any worries Jughead had. Not only did she achieve that, but she also managed to put a dumbstruck expression on Archie’s face that had Jughead chuckling.

“Come on Casanova, let’s get you out of here before she hurts your ego anymore” he grabbed Archie’s shoulder, pulling him towards the exit. “I’ll see you around Betty” he flashed her grin as he pulled open the door, shoving Archie through roughly.

“Bye Jughead” Betty breathed a laugh while shaking her head, waving goodbye before he closed the door.

When they were a safe distance away from the laundry room, Jughead turned to Archie and shoved him, hard, in the chest. “Dude, what the hell was that?” he yelled with a deep scowl.

“What?” Archie frowned, stepping into the elevator and waiting for Jughead to follow before he pressed the button for the fifth floor. “You’ve been insisting all week that you weren’t interested in her!” he said defensively, holding his hands up.

“I’m not…” he mumbled, an admittedly blaringly obvious lie. “But if the Cheryl incident should have taught you anything, it’s that getting involved with the neighbours is not a good idea” he mused quietly. This was something that Jughead been trying to remind _himself_ for the past week but every time he did, his mind strayed to a pair of pretty emerald-coloured eyes. “ _Especially_ not with her roommate… who is also her cousin in case you forgot.”

“Screw it, I took a chance” he shrugged. “Anyway, I still don’t believe you… this whole irritated jealous vibe you’re giving off just proves that you have a crush on her.”

“Stop staying ‘crush’, we’re not fourteen year old girls” Jughead cringed, but made no effort to deny Archie’s accusations, figuring he wouldn’t make a very convincing liar. All attempts so far to convince Archie that he didn’t like Betty had apparently been unsuccessful, why would this one be any different.

“Whatever you say buddy” Archie chuckled, shaking his head as they exited the elevator and walked down the hall to their apartment. “Hey, I got good news by the way” he grinned excitedly. “I’ve got a gig booked for Friday night!”

“That’s awesome Arch, congratulations” he praised with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. “Is it paid?” Jughead asked after a few moments, somewhat hesitantly, whilst pulling his keys out of his pocket and awkwardly balancing his basket on his hip so that he could open the door.

“Yep” he grinned proudly, strolling into the apartment and flopping lengthways onto the couch, placing his hands behind his head. “Which means I should actually be able to pay my half of the rent this month.”

“Good… because I don’t think your dad is giving you anymore handouts dude” he sighed, tossing his keys into the bowl by the door and closing the door behind him, “and I cannot afford this place by myself.”

“I know, I know” Archie sighed, running a hand over his face. “I’m trying Jug.”

“I know that. Being a college dropout stroke struggling musician is just harder than you thought it would be, right?” Jughead said with a shrug. “No judgement here” he said when he saw Archie’s slight glare, “as long as I get the other half of the rent.”

 “And you will!” Archie insisted, sitting up on the couch and placing his feet on the ground, leaning his elbows on his knees. “What would be really helpful is if you could invite some people to come and watch me play? The guy said if I’m good then he might have me play regularly, and I can’t impress people if there’s no one there.”

“One sec” Jughead went and dumped his laundry basket on his bed, deciding he would deal with it later, stopping in the kitchen before he returned to the living room and grabbing a bottle of water. “You know I only talk to two people, right?” he asked Archie, slumping down in their worn-out (but the most comfortable) armchair. “One of them is my sister and the other is you… who the hell would I invite to a gig?”

“JB could come if she wanted… she would probably need a fake ID though” Archie murmured with a shrug.

“Archie, my 15 year old little sister is not coming to a gig that I’m assuming is at a bar” Jughead said sternly, a warning glare directed towards his friend.

“Oh shit, yeah… I thought she was like 18 for some reason. My bad…” he shrugged with a chuckle, flopping back on the couch. “Hey, why don’t you invite Betty?” Archie’s face lit up like he had been hit with a stroke of genius.

“I barely know Betty… we’ve only talked twice. Why would I invite her to a gig?” Jughead shrugged, casting his gaze away and taking a sip of his water.

“Come on dude, please. I need this” Archie pleaded with a furrowed brow. “Just ask her to come along, bring some friends maybe?” a hopeful smile crossed his face. “It’d actually give you a chance to talk to her again, maybe get to know her…”

Jughead thought about it for a moment, before he sighed heavily. “I can’t promise she’ll actually come, but I guess I will ask her” he conceded. 

\--

“So here’s the thing” Betty smiled as she heard someone open the door to the laundry room. “You met Archie, and he’s kind of a douche” she turned and faced Jughead, who was standing leaning against the doorway with his hands buried in his pockets.

“Mmhmm” she murmured, folding her arms and waiting for him to continue with a subtle smile playing on her lips.

“He’s also a musician” he pushed off the doorway and strolled towards her, instead choosing to lean against one of the machines beside her.

“The outrageous flirt is also a musician? That’s a little predictable, but go on” she shrugged with a laugh, turning back to the dryer and pulling out her now freshly-washed bedsheets, beginning to fold them neatly.

“He’s actually half decent, and he’s playing a gig on Friday” Jughead continued, his gaze following her. “You don’t have to, but I told him I would ask… If you fancied coming along, maybe bring a friend or two… Archie would really appreciate it… but you don’t have to… Do you know what? Forget I asked-”

“Are you going?” she asked, cutting off his nervous ramblings. She bit back a smile at the way his clear blue eyes widened almost comically for a second, before he cleared his throat and apparently regained some composure.

“Uh, yeah… I am” he mumbled hesitantly, the surprise clearly evident in his voice.

“Then I guess I could make an appearance” she smiled sweetly at him. “Can I have your phone a second?” when he handed her it, she quickly tapped her number into his contacts. “There, now you can text me the details! See you soon, Jughead” she smiled, before picking up the pile of sheets, along with the cardigan she had been air-drying and waved goodbye, walking out of the laundry room with a giddying smile on her face. 

\--

“B, are you sure this is where you want to have a drink? It doesn’t exactly scream ‘girls night’” Veronica grimaced unsubtly, standing across the street and looking up at the bar that Betty had led them to. The distaste was written all over her face.

“A friend recommended the live music” Betty shrugged with a small smile, wrapping her denim jacket tighter around her, wishing she’d picked a warmer coat. “Now, can we go inside please? I’m starting to freeze.”

“Fine I guess, but you’re buying me a drink. I can’t believe we’re slumming it at a bar like this when there are plenty of wonderful clubs and much _classier_ bars just 20 minutes away!” Veronica sighed, stepping off the sidewalk to cross the street, her nose wrinkling as they approached the bar. “And they don’t smell like stale beer.”

“You know I can’t stand clubbing V, and all your favourite bars are far too expensive for me!” Betty protested, pushing open the door and being instantly met with the hum of music through speakers and gentle chatter mixing with it. She smiled, grabbing Veronica’s hand and pulling her through the door despite her quiet protests.

There was no question about it, Veronica definitely did look a little out of place. Her classy pencil skirt and pearls combination certainly didn’t blend with the t-shirt and jeans vibe it had going, unlike Betty who was thankful her choice to go with her trusty converse and flannel shirt had paid off. Though as they made their way to the bar, Betty spotted someone in a skimpy red dress that was certainly was standing out even more than Veronica. But, to be honest, Betty assumed that was Cheryl’s intention.

“Bitches!”’ she called loudly, jumping off her barstool and skipping over to them, throwing her arms around the both of them.

“Cheryl!” Betty squeaked in surprise, having intentionally not invited her as she suspected her cousin wouldn’t be all too eager to see Archie - though she hadn’t quite grasped the nature of their relationship yet, she was certain that Cheryl did not like him, _at all._ “What are you doing here Cher?” Betty pulled away from her embrace with a nervous smile.

“Josie’s band is playing here later, duh. Isn’t that why you’re here?” she rolled her eyes, sauntering back to her seat and quickly ordering them all a wicked-sounding cocktail. After a moment, her eyes snapped back to Betty’s, they narrowed into a glare. “Hold up… are you two having girls night without me?! I’m heartbroken!” she gasped, clutching her chest dramatically.

“Sorry, I just didn’t think it would be your scene” Betty shrugged, deciding to omit that she knew Archie would be there altogether. She would probably be safer that way.

“And you thought it would be mine?! Come on B” Veronica huffed, rolling her eyes and grabbing one of the glasses the bartender set down in front of them, taking a sip. “To be honest, if you had told me the ‘live music’ was Josie, I might have been a bit more willing to enter this establishment… Although I do have to admit, it is much nicer on the inside” she shrugged, taking another sip. “So where’s this ‘friend’ B?” she quizzed with a knowing smile, quirking one eyebrow at her. Betty actually hadn’t spotted Jughead yet, despite scanning the crowds for him since she arrived.

“Friend? What friend?” Cheryl chatted enthusiastically, pushing a drink towards Betty. “Bottoms up, B” she grinned mischievously, before turning to Veronica and whispering “I can always get more out of her when she’s drunk.” The two girls chuckled while Betty pouted at them, reluctantly taking a sip of the brightly coloured cocktail.

“Gosh, that’s strong” she winced and placed the glass back on the counter. “I’m not getting drunk tonight Cheryl, you know I have work in the morning” she gave her cousin a pointed look.

“I don’t” Cheryl shrugged, smirking and took a large swig of her drink.

“Me neither” Veronica grinned. “Hooray, let’s get wasted!” she chuckled, raising her glass.

“Cheers to that” Cheryl clinked her glass with Veronica’s, throwing her head back with a playful laugh.

“Ha ha” Betty deadpanned, leaning her elbow on the bar and resting her chin in her hand with a sigh. “We don’t all have rich families who can afford to support us through college.”

“Don’t you two come from the same family?” Veronica’s brow creased, pointing a dainty finger between her and Cheryl. Veronica had started mostly as Betty’s friend, but had since been introduced to Cheryl, who she had bonded with instantly. However, she was still somewhat struggling to wrap her head around the Blossom/Cooper familial situation, not that Betty had ever met someone who wasn’t - it was, admittedly, pretty fucked up.

“Technically yes, but my side doesn’t come with a trust fund” she teased, poking her tongue out at her cousin.

“True” she shrugged. “But, I am letting you stay in my apartment rent-free, so watch that tone young lady” she playfully glared at Betty before letting out a soft laugh.

“Kudos to you Cher, I wouldn’t want to live with any of my relatives” Veronica raised her eyebrows. “No offence Betty” she added with a giggle.

“Eh, I was kind of a bitch to her in high-school… you know, before we found out we were related. I figured I owed her one” Cheryl shrugged, offering Betty an apologetic smile. Even after years of countless apologies, Betty knew she still felt guilty… and part of her was glad for it, but for the most part she just wanted her to accept that she was forgiven. It was in the past, and they had a much better relationship now.

“Yeah well, once I got to know you properly, I realised you weren’t as insufferable as you liked to pretend” Betty giggled, taking another sip of her drink. When her phone buzzed in her back pocket, she pulled it out to be greeted with a text from Jughead. Thankfully, Veronica and Cheryl had started chatting between themselves and so they didn’t have too many questions about the smile that instantly appeared on her face.

**J: It was a brave move inviting Cheryl… Should be interesting? I won’t come over for fear of being bullied by her, but thanks for coming :)**

She looked up from her phone, quickly scanning the crowds for him. When her eyes landed on him, he shyly offered her a wave, standing across the room with a couple of other guys (his friends, she was guessing). She grinned back at him, quickly typing a response to him.

**B: I didn’t invite her, she came of her own volition… turns out one of our friends is playing tonight too. Not looking forward to her reaction when she sees Archie though!! I’ll definitely come say hi later :)**

It was another twenty minutes or so until the live music started, spent chatting and drinking stupidly strong cocktails with Veronica and Cheryl (Betty was starting to feel a little buzzed, despite her promise that she wouldn’t get drunk). They’d transitioned from standing by the bar to sitting around a table a little closer to the stage, from which Jughead was seated only a few tables away. Every now and then, Betty’s eyes would flicker upwards and meet with his and she would feel this warm tingling feeling in the pit of her stomach when he smiled at her. It made her a little nervous that she was far, far too happy to welcome those butterflies.

As one of the first few musical acts was finishing up, Cheryl stood up from her seat and downed the rest of her drink. “I need to piss, be back in a sec my bitches” she announced candidly, before sauntering towards the bathroom.

“Her confidence astounds me” Betty breathed a laugh, staring after Cheryl. She was a little startled when Veronica gasped dramatically beside her.

“What?” she asked curiously, wondering what had caused her small outburst.

“You know I told you that I hooked up with that guy... maybe a couple of weeks ago? Well _that’s him_ ” she whispered, jabbing a finger towards the stage. When Betty followed her gaze, her eyes landed on Archie, standing by the mic and getting ready for his set.

“ _No way_ ” Betty gasped. “V, he lives in my apartment building!”

“I haven’t been to your apartment yet, I couldn’t have known that! ” She babbled defensively. “Eh, I didn’t really like him that much… it was just a hook up” she shrugged, taking another sip of her drink.

“Even so… V, I don’t know exactly what the situation is yet, but please do not tell Cheryl you slept with Archie” she hissed in a hushed tone.

Betty must have been more tipsy than she thought, because she hadn’t heard the girl in question return the table. Veronica’s eyes widened when they landed on her, her mouth falling open, nudging Betty quickly to shut her up. When Betty’s gaze followed Veronica’s, her eyes landed on Cheryl standing there, looking at Veronica with a hardened jaw.

“Shit Cher…” Betty started, but she was cut off before she could talk anymore.

“You slept with Archie?” she murmured, a usual hardness in her voice replaced by the smallest of trembles.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave me a comment! They warm my heart in ways you cannot imagine!


	4. four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I edit chapters myself so this is likely riddled with mistakes. I like to tell myself that I'll go back and re-edit them one day, but that might be a lie.

Barely a few minutes into Archie’s set, a dainty hand tapped on Jughead’s shoulder. He tore his eyes away from the stage and blamed the fact that he’d had a few beers for the for the full, unrestrained smile that bloomed when they landed on Betty. “Uh hey” she smiled nervously, rubbing her neck as she looked up at him.

“Hi” breathed, still making no effort to fight back his boyish grin. Unfortunately that didn’t seem to swing his favour, as it managed to catch the attention of one of the apes Archie called friends.

“Woah, who are you and how did you make Wednesday Addams over here smile like that?” Reggie smirked, swaggering over and looking very proud of himself for making what he must have thought was a semi-intelligent quip. In fact, all he had managed to achieve was helping Jughead conclude that his first impressions of him had been correct: ( Reggie Mantle is a douche. )

Jughead instantly narrowed his eyes at how Reggie looked Betty over appreciatively. “No wonder you’re beaming Jones, look at this beautiful lady” he said coolly, moving so he was practically standing in front of Jughead. “Can I buy you a drink sweetness?” Jughead wondered if guys always flirted with Betty like this, or whether it just happened in front of him as the universe’s way of trying to piss him off - because boy, was it working.

“Uh… no thank you. I’d actually just like to talk to Jughead if that’s okay” she murmured, and it amazed Jughead how she still managed to smile politely at him despite the rest of her body language screaming discomfort.

“In layman's terms, piss off Reggie” Jughead muttered, scowling at him, annoyed that Reggie was not just irritating himself but that he was clearly making Betty uneasy.

“You can do better than this guy babe” he smirked at her with a wink, nodding his head towards Jughead. “Hope to see you around blondie, come find me if you want to hang with a _real man_ ” Reggie winked at her again and clapped Jughead on the shoulder before finally walking away. When Jughead turned back to Betty, her gaze remained on his retreating form with a look of distaste.

“Archie’s friend, not mine I promise” he held his hands up. “Sorry about him Betty. He has less charisma than a brick wall and he likes to inform people of it within five seconds of meeting them” he smiled apologetically, burying his hands in his pockets. “You okay?” his smile quickly faded into a frown when he noticed she hadn’t seemed to drop the air of anxiousness she had been giving off.

“Yeah I’m fine… I just have to go” Betty murmured with a sad smile. “I’m sorry, I know I said I’d watch Archie play, and his set only just started but I think Cheryl is having a crisis and I have to go look for her.”

“Is she alright?” his brow creased further. Sure, he didn’t exactly get along with Cheryl but his basic human compassion was telling him to be concerned. ( _Urgh_. )

“Uh… I’m not totally sure” she said honestly, with a weak shrug. “Which is why I need to go look for her” she sighed, glancing at her phone in her hand quickly. “Sorry again, I didn’t really get a chance to talk to you tonight…” she met his eyes again, a hint of disappointment showing on her face. “I’ll see you soon, okay?” she waved a hand at him, turning around and ready to leave.

She had started to try and make her way through the crowded bar when he called her quickly (again, he was attributing his apparent burst in confidence _solely_ to the alcohol in his system). “Hey Betty!” she looked over his shoulder, back at him. “You know… uh, maybe you could come to another one of Archie’s gigs some time… So you could hear more of his music... I mean it’s not half bad right?” he chuckled nervously, absentmindedly adjusting the knitted hat on his head, internally cringing at how awkward he was around her.

But mercifully, a grin started to slowly spread across her face, along with (what he was pretty sure was) a blush dusting her cheeks. “Sure… I’d love to _hear more of Archie’s music_ ” she raised an eyebrow at him. “Though, just so you know, I’d be much more interested in talking to his groupie in the weird crown beanie” a smirk slipped onto her features while Jughead breathed a laugh at her words.

“Is that really how you see me Betty? If so, I desperately need to work on the impression I make” he grinned at her.

“Nooo…” she nibbled the corner of her lip as she smiled widely. “You’re also the neighbour who kidnapped my cat” she shrugged, breathing a laugh at Jughead’s playful scowl. “Bye Jughead” she said, still laughing a little as she turned on her heel and headed towards the exit before he could protest her mock-accusation.

He wasn’t sure when Reggie had reappeared, but he suddenly clapped Jughead on the shoulder, effectively shaking him out of the trance that he’d entered whilst watching Betty walk away. “You gotta stop smiling like that Jones, you’ll ruin your reputation” he teased, before shuffling past him towards the bar.

He had to admit, for once, Reggie might have had a point... but Betty was too good a reason to smile.

\--

Betty sighed in relief as she saw Cheryl’s jacket draped over the table in the hall, the deadly-looking high heeled shoes she had been wearing kicked off at its feet. She was hoping that meant her cousin was at home, having spent 45 minutes or so wandering around the city looking for her before she returned to the apartment, just in case. Shrugging off her jacket and closing the door to the apartment, Betty walked quietly towards Cheryl’s bedroom, quickly peering into the living room as she went.

“Cher?” she called softly, knocking on the door. When no answer came, Betty tried turning the handle to the room and discovered that she had locked herself in . “Cheryl, I won’t make you talk about it, I promise… Just let me know that you’re here and you’re safe?” she offered, gentle but hopefully loud enough for her to hear through the door. “Please.”

Nothing but silence filtered through the door, only stirring Betty’s worries more. She was plenty used to this kind of treatment, admittedly. When Cheryl Blossom got upset, there were two possible reactions: the first was that she would erupt in burning hot rage, showcasing her wrath for everybody to see and fighting to settle the score at any cost. The second was radio silence. Betty had always suspected that she thought that she would be able to hide her vulnerabilities that way, that she could pretend she didn’t have feelings. Meanwhile, she crumbled internally, the walls she built up only falling inwards.

“Cher please, I don’t know anyone who can break down a door” Betty let her head fall against the door, the smallest of sad smiles crossing her face.

“I’m fine” it took a few minutes, and the whisper was barely audible through the wooden pane. “Just leave me alone, Betty.”

“Okay... I’m here if you need me” she sighed, obliging to Cheryl’s wish with some reluctance and trudging into her own room.

“Hey Caramel” she said flippantly to the cat planted in the middle of her bed. For someone who didn’t like Betty very much, Caramel spent a surprising amount of time in her bedroom, often found nestling in the pillows and blankets, even sleeping at Betty’s feet sometimes. She was hoping that the cat was finally starting to wear down a little and become more accustomed to her, as she hadn’t done anything annoying in at least a few days (a new record).

Betty walked over her dresser, quickly picking a loose t-shirt and some comfy shorts to change into. When she finally collapsed into her bed, the exhaustion compiled from a tough week of classes and assignments caught up with her and her nose wrinkled with distaste at the idea of getting up for work in the morning. As much as she loved her job, she didn’t have the energy.

With that thought, she was reminded that she ought to set an alarm so she could actually wake up. When she reached for her phone, she was surprised to see  a few texts that Jughead had sent her since she’d left the bar.

**J: You’ll be pleased to know that Reggie hasn’t been held back by the heartbreak of your rejection, I’ve been watching him hit on your friend (the latina one) for the past 20 minutes or so.**

**J: Update - they’re making out. In my opinion, it’s a little too R-rated for a public space... I can’t believe my eyes are being subjected to this.**

Betty breathed a laugh at that, whilst also being thankful that it meant Veronica probably really wasn’t interested in Archie as she promised before Cheryl ran off. If she had been lying, it certainly would have made things a whole lot more complicated. Her smile faded a little when she scrolled to the next text.

**J: If Cheryl needs something to cheer her up, tell her that even though Archie is going to be telling people for the next few weeks that he got in a bar fight, he actually tripped and fell back stage. His chin bled like a bitch. In my experience, Archie’s misfortune rarely fails to bring a smile to Cheryl’s face.**

Betty’s brow creased a little, wondering if Jughead knew the reason why Cheryl had ran off was to do with Archie. She supposed there could be a possibility that Veronica had shared, as she was apparently in their orbit but the impression she got was that Jughead didn’t even know her name so it was likely the two of them hadn’t really talked. The more she thought about it, the more she settled on the fact that it was probably just a coincidence, as Archie and Cheryl seemingly didn’t get along in general. It was hard since nobody had actually told her what their relationship was, she was having to fill in the jigsaw puzzle herself, piece by piece. So far, all she’d grasped was that it was complicated.

The phone was knocked out of Betty’s hands when Caramel’s head softly pushed up against her knuckles, who sniffed the device timidly when it dropped onto the mattress. “How’d you know it was Jughead, hmm?” she breathed a laugh, holding out her hand to the cat hesitantly. She had suspected it would be swatted away as usual, so she broke out into a triumphant grin when she nuzzled her head into her palm. “Hey Caramel!” she cooed, scratching behind her ears as praise. “See, I’m not so bad right?” she chuckled as Caramel rolled onto her back beside her, and purred appreciatively when Betty scratched her belly. “Good girl… this feels like progress! It only took… three or so weeks…” she yawned.

Betty continued to stroke Caramel’s fur gently, with a soft but elated smile lingering on her lips, effectively lulling them both to sleep.

\--

( I should have just texted. ) Jughead thought as he entered the fourth floor landing.

( I’m embarrassing myself. ) he shook his head as he walked towards Betty’s apartment.

( She might not even be awake. ) he stood in front of the door, building up the nerve - admittedly, it wasn’t going very well.

( I’ve still got time to turn around. ) he reached up and quickly knocked on the door, before he actually managed to talk himself out of it. ( Well, it might be too late now. )

Betty pulled open the door after about minute, and after the initial flicker of surprise, a bright smile appeared on her face. “Good morning Jughead!” she chirped, way too cheerful for such an early hour of the day.

“Hey… I know it’s early sorry, I was just headed to work” he smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I just wanted to see if everything is alright after last night.”

“Don’t worry about it, I was just about to leave for work myself actually!” she said, ducking back into the apartment to grab her jacket and a small handbag before joining him in the hallway. “Where do you work?” she asked, gesturing towards the stairwell, silently telling him to start walking.

Jughead chose not to comment on how she brushed off the second part of his greeting, instead burying his hands in the pockets of his jacket and falling into step beside her. “The Coffee Club, about 10 minutes away from here. I don’t love it, but it pays the rent and I get free coffee. So not all bad” he shrugged nonchalantly.

“No way! That’s only a few blocks away from the bookstore where I work! What a small world” Betty said excitedly.

“Do you like working there? At the bookstore, I mean.”

“It can be a pretty tedious job sometimes, and it can be really boring on quiet days… and there are definitely more quiet days than there are not” she frowned, seemingly thinking hard about it. “But I do get the chance to study when there’s nothing to do. Plus the lady who owns it is really lovely” Betty smiled genuinely. “I would definitely prefer to focus entirely on college, but a girl’s gotta eat right?” she chuckled softly.  

“What do you study?” Jughead asked curiously, he hadn’t known she was at college - it was probably even the same one as him, as it was the only one in the area.

“Journalism” she grinned and Jughead wondered how he hadn’t seen her around the campus before, as a lot of their classes likely took place in the same building, both falling under the umbrella of the English department. “My parents run a newspaper office in my hometown, so it’s practically in my genes, though it must have skipped my sister” she breathed a laugh. “I worked with them a little before college, and it was fascinating, and what really sparked my love for reporting but studying it… it’s just taken everything to a whole new level, you know? I can’t wait to learn more everyday, there’s nothing I’d rather be doing. After I graduate, I’d love to do some work for other magazines and newspapers, you know to broaden my horizons a little… but the dream is to take over the business from my parents one day and make it even better than it already is.”

“Wow” Jughead grinned, shaking his head to himself as they crossed the lobby of their building.

“What?” Betty frowned a little, narrowing her eyes at Jughead’s vague reaction. She walked through the door when Jughead held it open for her, looking at him expectantly as he followed her.

“It’s just nice meeting someone who knows what they want to do with their life, I guess” he explained, glancing at her with a small smile as they loitered on the sidewalk outside the building for a moment. “You know, it’s easy to see how much you love it, how much you want it… that’s just from 30 seconds of you talking about it. I guess I just wish passion like that wasn’t such a rare occurrence now. At some point, people stopped bothering and it became the social norm to pretend not to care about things because it’s seen as being ‘nerdy’, and because it’s not cool to try hard. People get encouraged to go after the careers that they could be successful in or that make the most money and not doing what they _love._ The reverse is the people who think they want something but they can’t make it happen, because they just don’t want it _enough_. God... I love Archie, I do, but he’s kidding himself if he thinks what he’s doing is enough. He says he wants to be a musician, and he damn could be if he tried just a little bit harder, if he wanted it just a _little_ more. You know?” he finished his a little rant with a shrug and started walking in the direction of the coffeehouse, leaving Betty blinking in shock for a few seconds.

“So what’s your major?” she hurried after him, having to almost jog to catch up with Jughead’s long strides. “Because if you thought I was filled with passion for what I do, then you’re overflowing with it!” she breathed a laugh. “Seriously, what do you study?” she insisted when he didn’t answer her.

“How do you know I study anything?” he raised an eyebrow at her challengingly, to which she responded with a pointed look.

“Because it would be a waste of intellect, and you’re evidently smart enough to know that” Betty explained flatly. “Just tell me what you study!” she yelled playfully, but clearly impatient.

“Fine, fine, I concede” he chuckled, holding his hands up in defense. “English and creative writing.”

“That makes a lot of sense” she nodded with a smile. “What do you want to be? You know, what would you like to be doing when you graduate?”

“A writer” he said simply. “I want to write and publish books, both fiction and non-fiction.”

“That’s pretty ambitious. Not many people make it as authors, you know” she teased, nudging him lightly with her elbow as they walked beside each other.

“It’s not about making it” he nudged her back with a smile. “It’s about just writing, stringing words together to make an intricate story, creating something out of what started as a blank page. As long as I can do that, I don’t give a shit about ‘making it’” he replied honestly.

“That’s kind of beautiful” Betty admitted with a small laugh. “You’re going to make it, I can tell” she nodded, determined.

“Thanks Betty” Jughead shook his head with a laugh “maybe I will”. They fell into a comfortable silence, walking through the quiet streets of early morning.

“Hey Jughead, could you do me a favour?” she asked after a few minutes, nibbling her lip like she was anxious.

“Can I ask what it is before I agree?” he breathed a laugh, wondering if he should feel nervous about the uneasy expression Betty was wearing.

“Could you tell me about Archie and Cheryl? I tried to stay out of it, I really did… But something happened between them, right?”

“Betty, is this about what happened last night? Something to do with Cheryl having a crisis?” Jughead asked with a sigh.

“Maybe” she admitted, chewing on her lip again. “I just want to know how worried I should be.”

“Well, truthfully I don’t know all too much about the matter” Jughead confessed, offering her a small apologetic smile.

“How is that possible?” she said in disbelief, her forehead scrunching into a frown.

“I try not to get involved… When they first started seeing each other, Cheryl was basically a stranger to me, I had no reason to take anymore notice of her than any other girl Archie’s ever fooled around with” he shrugged.

“So they _were_ together?” she asked expectantly, apparently desperate for answers. ( Huh, I guess she really is a journalism student. )

“Sort of… I started paying a little more attention to Cheryl because she seemed to stick around for a lot longer than anyone else had… They were involved from a few months at least, not even that long ago either, this all took place in the last year.”

“So what happened? What went wrong?” Betty prompted, her hands wringing together tightly.

“Honestly, I don’t know” he repeated. “Suddenly, they just stopped seeing each other and apparently hated each other, perhaps slightly more on Cheryl’s part so I figured Archie might have done something but he didn’t want to talk about it, so I didn’t ask. I guess it must have been bad because I usually can’t shut him up. Since then, it seems like pretty much nothing has changed with respect to Cheryl’s dislike for Archie, she still can’t stand him.”

“So why did it upset her so much?” Betty muttered to herself under her breath, making Jughead’s brows knit.

“Why did what upset her so much? What did Archie do?” he asked, confused.

“Uh, nothing, sorry” she smiled apologetically at him, it being blatantly obvious that she was holding something back. “I’m probably concerned about nothing, I just worry about her a lot” she said softly.

“You two are pretty close, huh?”

“She’s sort of like another sister to me,” she chuckled quietly “that might seem a little bizarre, I know we’re pretty different.”

“Pfft, nooo…” Jughead scoffed sarcastically. “Okay yeah, you’re pretty much polar opposites” he retracted with a laugh when Betty smiled at him knowingly.

“No one knows more than I do how harsh Cheryl can be” she admitted. “For a long time we didn’t know that we were related, it was a dark family secret… and she kind of tormented me when we were in school. Once we found out, it took her a while, but she eventually warmed up to me. The version of Cheryl that I know is far more true to herself than the one she presents to the world” Betty explained calmly, like this wasn’t the first time she’d had to defend her character. “She can be very cold, very bitchy but you better believe there’s a good reason for it. She went through a lot of trauma when we were growing up… But deep down, she’s not so bad.”

“If _you_ think she’s a good person, I expect it’s more than a little credible” he remarked with a small smile.

“I didn’t say that,” she said jokingly, “but she’s a lot closer than she was 4 or 5 years ago, and that’s good enough for me.” She stopped walking at a corner and smiled brightly up at him, “I’ve got to go this way, but it was really nice talking to you.”

“Yeah, you too” he murmured with a fond smile. In reality, Jughead had spoken to Betty only a handful of times, so it was strange that he felt as if he’d known her for years. It was a rarity that he felt this comfortable around a person _at all_ , let alone someone he’d just met - yet another example of the many things that intrigued Jughead about Betty.

“Have a nice day at work Jughead” she waved at him before setting off down the street towards the shop where she worked, while Jughead continued towards the coffee shop.

From the moment she left his company, Jughead couldn’t stop thinking about her. He kept replaying her words in his head, kept thinking about the day they had met, kept thinking about how beautiful she was (seemingly inside and out), how she had the most stunning hypnotic green eyes. Thus far, it felt like all their moments had been fleeting and he wanted so desperately for that to change. He craved more of her time, more of her company, he wanted to know her better.

All morning, Jughead had been in a trance, thinking about Betty while he worked. As if his prayers had been answered, she came in for a coffee at lunchtime.

“You know, there’s someone who lives in my building who looks just like you” she teased, leaning on the countertop.

“Oh yeah, what’s he like?”

“Oh, I don’t know him very well yet… but I’m hoping that will change. He seems like a great guy” she smiled brightly at him. “Far too easy to talk to, pretty smart and… I hear he makes a killer cup of coffee” she chuckled, a playful glint dancing in her eyes.

“What can I get you Betty?” he asked with a laugh, picking up a paper cup, poising his pen ready to write down her order.

Turns out, Archie was right - ( I’ve got a fucking crush on her. )

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave me a comment


	5. five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited by yours truly, so please forgive my mistakes.

“Betty, I’m leaving in five!” Cheryl called through the door, increasing Betty’s speed a little as she flitted around her room to get ready, yanking her sweater over her head roughly. From the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse in the mirror of how disheveled her ponytail had become from that action, stray hairs sticking out messily. Betty reached up with a sigh and pulled the plastic tie from her hair, instead twisting her locks into a loose messy bun - it was a style that she knew her mother would never approve of, but it was a lot less high maintenance than a perfect ponytail and it would have to do, plus Alice wasn’t there to police her anymore. Betty grabbed her mascara and applied a thin coat to her lashes, choosing not to bother with any other products like she did most days.

“Come on, I’m leaving!” Cheryl shouted again, sounding a little more impatient.

“I’m coming!” Betty squeaked, skidding into the hallway in her socks and almost running to the door, where she shoved her feet into a pair of boots and shrugged on her coat. “How on earth do you manage all _that_ ” she gestured to Cheryl’s perfectly made up face, complete with her classic red lip, and her stylish ensemble, “before I’ve even managed to dress myself?” Though Betty had always considered herself an early riser, Cheryl seemed to always have her beat, despite always crawling into bed a few hours after Betty. At this point, Betty was half convinced that she didn’t sleep at all.

“What are you talking about? I woke up like this” Cheryl grinned and winked at her as she pushed off where she was leaning on the doorway. “Come on, let’s get going. I’ve got places to go, revenge to exact…” she pulled open the door.

“You have an econ class” Betty chuckled, slinging her bag over her shoulder while she followed Cheryl out of the apartment and closed the door behind her. “Remember? Getting your business and economics degree is step one in your eight point plan for taking over the world?” she breathed a laugh.

“When did you find out about my eight point plan?” Cheryl smirked, laughing as she entered the elevator. It had taken a few days and more than a few bottles of wine, but Betty was glad to see that she was starting to act a little more like herself again - by the next week, it was like the whole event had been forgotten. She hadn’t quite managed to probe any answers out of Cheryl yet, but she figured it was only a matter of time before she shared. Things never stayed secret between the two of them for very long.

When they stepped out of the elevator into the underground parking lot, Betty strolled towards Cheryl’s car with a sigh. “I still can’t believe that you have such a beautiful car” she pouted, running her fingers lightly along the hood of the pristine white Range Rover while she walked to the passenger side.

“Yeah well, my inheritance from Daddy was more than a pretty penny” she shrugged, fishing her keys out from her purse and climbing into the driver’s seat.

“Do you still think about him?” Betty asked at the mention of Clifford, a man she’d never really liked, but he was Cheryl’s father and for most of her life, she had loved him.

“Sometimes” she sighed, switching on the engine and starting to pull out of the parking lot. “But what he did was unforgivable, and I think he knew that. Although, I’ve never known whether what he did was out of guilt or whether it was just because he got caught...” she continued with a slight shrug. “But I think about Jay-Jay all the time” she said with a sad smile.

“I would have liked to get to know him, like I did with you” Betty offered a small smile, leaning against the window. Jason’s death had long preceded the breaking news of their relation, so she’d never really had a chance change that douchey jock image that she’d built up of him over the years. All that was left were Cheryl’s memories of him: touching stories of her brother, her best friend and the one person who had ever truly understood her - it all sounded like a different Jason than the person that Betty had known.

“It’s weird, you know…” she frowned. “It’s been over five years and I still sometimes pick up the phone to call him before I remember. It’s strange how habits like that are hard to shake, no matter how much time passes” she said calmly, her lips twisting into a sad smile again.

“Have you spoken to your mom recently?” Betty asked curiously.

“Nope, not for a few weeks at least” she reported with a small shrug, an acceptance of their estranged relationship that had only come with times. “What about you? Heard from Alice lately?”

“One text at least, everyday this week, a phone call here and there too” Betty replied with a small laugh. “She still tells me that there’s no shame in dropping out and starting over a little closer to home… You think she’d realise that by my Junior year, I’m feeling pretty settled here” she shook her head, pulling her sleeves of her sweater over her hands a little as a precautionary barrier, just in case her nervous tick reared its ugly head.

“She just worries about you Betty” Cheryl sighed, glancing briefly towards the passenger seat. “Did you finally tell her that you moved into my apartment?” she asked with a pointed look.

“Yeah I did.”

“Good…” she nodded slowly. “Did you tell her why?” she asked in a slightly quieter tone.

Betty’s gaze immediately dropped to her lap, aware that her silence was screaming her answer. She’d told her mom that Cheryl asked her to move in so she could have help with the rent, a bold-faced lie; Cheryl wasn’t even charging her any rent, she had insisted it wasn’t necessary as she’d been living in that apartment for nearly a year and the spare room had always gone unused. With anyone else, Betty would have insisted she contribute, but she knew Cheryl could easily cover it and they compromised by sharing the bills, so the matter wasn’t too pressing.

However, the real reason Betty had moved in was because living by herself, as she had attempted to last year, did not go well. She had struggled with poor mental health numerous times in the past, but living alone seemed to awaken the beast again. She found coming home to an empty apartment every day had a maddening effect, because it was always far too quiet; no matter how loud Betty blasted the music or turned up the TV, no matter how many times she rang Polly or Cheryl or Veronica or her mom, nothing seemed to drown out the silence of the empty rooms all around her. Betty had been too embarrassed to admit she couldn’t handle it, so she had tried to persevere and hope things would get better, that eventually it wouldn’t feel so isolated. Unfortunately, it hadn’t worked, and it took her to some very dark places…. Eventually she broke, and she was lucky Cheryl had been there to pick up the pieces, after suspecting for a long time that something wasn’t right. Cheryl had stayed at Betty’s apartment every single night until she agreed to move in with her.

“Betty...” Cheryl sighed, fingers tapping nervously on the steering wheel.

“No, Cher. You were right, my mom already worries about me too much” she said with the sternest tone she could manage. “Besides, I’m fine” she painted a bright smile on her face, only a little forced around the edges. “See? All better” she insisted.

“You don’t have to always be so strong, Betty” Cheryl reached a hand over to clutch Betty’s comfortingly. “No one can cope all of the time” she offered a tight-lipped smile.

“You should take your own advice every now and then” Betty sighed, a small smile of her own slipping onto her face as she squeezed Cheryl’s hand gratefully.

“I’m working on it” she grinned, slipping her hand from Betty’s grip and placing it back on the steering wheel.

Betty let her gaze wander to the passing blur of autumn colours behind the window as they drove through the tree-lined streets. Betty loved fall, having the most cliched desire for muted orange and browns colouring the streets and pumpkin-spice flavoured everything, however she was currently also glad to be sat inside the car where the chill couldn’t reach her. As the end of October was approaching and the temperature dropping rapidly, she had chosen to take up Cheryl’s offers for a lift to the college campus, somewhat reluctantly but the 20 minute walk could get a little chilly - no matter how pretty it was, and she would be lying if she said she wasn’t enjoying the warm air the heater was blowing into the car.

As she stared out of the window, a familiar figure appeared ahead, who apparently wasn’t so lucky to escape the cold. Betty’s smile widened as she recognised Jughead, strolling along the sidewalk, presumably towards college, with his hands shoved into his pockets. She couldn’t resist fishing her phone out and snapping a picture of him as they drew closer, proceeding to pull up their text thread and send the photo, writing **_I guess you always wear that beanie, huh? P.S. you’re looking a little chilly :)_ ** and pressing send as they drove on past him. It barely took a minute for his reply to come.

**J: Yes, but we’re finally at the time of year where it’s seasonally appropriate, so people are due to stop asking questions pretty soon. P.S. are you stalking me Betty?!**

Betty didn’t notice Cheryl eyeing her suspiciously as she grinned at her phone screen, tapping out her reply eagerly.

**B: Don’t worry, I’m sure I have enough questions to keep you entertained… What are you trying to hide, huh? A bald spot, perhaps? P.S. damn, you caught me!**

“Who are you texting B?” Cheryl broke the silence, her curiosity getting the better of her.

“Oh...uh” Betty looked up from the screen, to see Cheryl’s eyebrows raised expectantly. “Jughead.”

“Since when do you talk to Jughead?” she frowned in confusion, though she hadn’t been hiding her newfound friendship with Jughead, Betty hadn’t shared either.

“We’ve been texting a little…” Betty offered hesitantly, downplaying it significantly - their text conversations often lasted the day, with frequent replies bouncing between them. “We’ve walked to work together a few times, he works at a coffee shop not too far from the store and sometimes I pop in on my breaks. Plus he’s the one who suggested I go to the bar last weekend… Obviously I see him around the building too” she explained, trying to remain nonchalant. She figured it wasn’t working when a small smirk appeared on Cheryl’s face.

“I see…” she tutted, smiling knowingly. “I saw this coming the minute he appeared in our apartment” she muttered under her breath, shaking her head in amusement. “I thought I told you that you weren’t allowed to fall for him“ she added teasingly.

“What? Come on Cher, I’m not _falling for him_!” Betty huffed defensively, crossing her arms over her chest to restrain herself from looking at her phone as it chimed with another text - it would only encourage Cheryl further.

“But you like him, right?” she quirked an eyebrow challengingly.

“No, I mean… I don’t _not_ like him… but we’re just friends! He’s just fun to talk to and… shut up!” Betty could feel the blush hotly spreading across her face, matching the pace at which Cheryl’s smirk was growing.

“Whatever you say, Betty” Cheryl chuckled, eyes shining brightly with laughter. “Damn, this is going to fun to watch” she continued, shooting her a playful smile as they pulled into the parking lot.

\--

During Betty’s morning classes, her focus was admittedly severely lacking. The whole time, she had been secretly texting Jughead beneath the desk, trying to suppress the giggles that threatened when he cracked a joke in order to avoid detection, occasionally having to cough to cover up her failure. She had tried to concentrate fully, she really had, but every time she put the phone down or buried it in her bag, determined to return to the class with renewed vigour, her fingers itched to pick it up again a few minutes later. It felt juvenile to be so smitten, and it definitely wouldn’t help the argument that she didn’t like him, but she couldn’t help it.

“My, my” Betty’s friend Kevin tutted beside her, looking over her shoulder at her page. “Never in the entirety of this class have my notes been better than yours, but I guess we’re making history today” he chuckled quietly.

“I know, I know, I’m somewhere else today” Betty whispered back, shaking her head and placing her phone back on the desk.

“I’m guessing wherever you are that… ‘ _Jughead_ ’ is there with you” Kevin smirked as the screen lit up with a new notification, swiping the device despite Betty’s attempt to snatch it away. “Well, aren’t you two chatty?” he raised his eyebrows as he scrolled through the messages.

“Kev!” she hissed, sneaking a nervous glance towards the professor who was waffling on unaware, thank goodness they were sat near the back of the lecture hall. “I never should have told you my password” she groaned quietly.

“It’s not my fault you never change it” he shrugged, his eyes yet to tear away from the conversation. “God, you two are flirty! Are you dating this guy? If you are, I hate you for not telling me and if you aren’t, you should immediately” his whispers were becoming less discrete, earning a glare from Midge, sitting a few seats away from them. Betty shot her an apologetic smile, before turning back to Kevin with a glare.

“Give me that” she whispered fiercely as she plucked the phone from his hands and shoved it in her bag. “I’m not dating him, he’s a new friend” she explained quietly, picking up her pen at least to create the illusion that she was paying attention. With only 10 minutes left, she figured she was past the point of no return, and she mentally thanked whoever had suggested that all their lectures be filmed and posted online.

“Honey, you may not be dating, but you’re not friends either” Kevin said with a quiet laugh, his tone, thankfully, had returned to a whisper. “He likes you, trust me, and I’m guessing you like him.”

“Gosh, not this again” Betty grumbled under her breath, feeling that morning’s conversation with Cheryl beginning to repeat itself. “Shush Kevin, I’m trying to concentrate” she said, unsubtly dodging talking about it any further, to which he rolled his eyes. He decided to exact his revenge by humming _‘Betty and Jughead sitting in a tree…’_ in her ear over and over again for the remainder of the class. When the professor announced the end of class, she hastily stuffed her things in her bag and proceeded to drag Kevin through the doors of the lecture hall, just about ready to strangle him. He just let her tug him along while he laughed at him. His laughs were silenced when she delivered a quick smack upside the head once they were in the hallway.

“ _Ouch_ ” Kevin glared at her, while she smiled sweetly back at him.

“You deserved it” she spat playfully, most of her frustrations now dissipated.

“Wow Betts, I didn’t know you had a violent streak” a familiar deep voice surprised her when it sounded from behind her, accompanied with a low chuckle. Betty was so startled that she spun on her heel to face him far too quickly, almost losing her balance. She certainly would have fallen straight into him (or flat on her face) if a hand hadn’t shot out and grabbed her upper arm to steady her. She was grateful for more reasons than one.

“Hi Jughead!” she breathed a laugh at her own clumsiness, his laughter mingling with her own, as he smiled down at her. She couldn’t help but notice the way his hand lingered on her arm for a few seconds longer than was necessary, and the way that it made the dull thud of her heart quicken a few paces beyond her control.

“Oh hi _Jughead_ -” Betty channeled her very best Alice Cooper-esque glare in Kevin’s direction, effectively silencing him before he could do any real damage.

“This is Kevin” she smiled apologetically in Jughead’s direction, gesturing to her friend beside her, and choosing to ignore his questioning stare.

“Nice to meet you” he nodded politely to Kevin. “I’ve got a class, so I can’t hang around but I thought I’d say hi” he said, grinning down at her again. “I’ll see you around Betts” Jughead threw her a small wave, walking backwards a few paces.

“Yeah, see you soon” she waved back, not bothering to fight back the smile as she watched him turn and walk away. When she turned back to face Kevin, he had a very smug-looking smile on his face.

“Don’t say a word” she warned, rolling her eyes and adjusting the strap of her backpack on her shoulder. “Do you want to come get lunch with me and Cheryl?” she offered, gesturing that they start walking.

“Sure” Kevin nodded, falling into step beside her. “Tell me... how does someone resist a guy with cheekbones like that?” he said with a wicked smirk. “Asking for a friend.”

“Kev, stop!” Betty shook her head laughing, a light blush colouring her cheeks.

“What about those pouty lips, huh?” he continued with a dreamy sigh, playing dumb. “And come on, surely you must have imagined running your hands through that hair at least once… I know I’m going to” he added with a wink.

“Kevin Keller, you have a boyfriend” she scolded playfully, swatting gently at his arm.

“Doesn’t mean I’m blind to beauty like _that_ , Betty” he said, earning yet another eye-roll from her. “God, I’m swear to you, you two would make a fucking _hot_ couple” he stated boldly. “I’m picturing beautiful raven haired babies with striking green eyes.”

“Your lack of filter astounds me” she muttered with a giggle, but she let him chat on while they walked through the campus. By the time they reached the restaurant, Kevin had planned their wedding, his maid of honour speech (his choice), and the names and genders of their four children. He was hopeful, to say the least.

Betty breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Cheryl sitting at a table by the front windows, scrolling on her phone, hoping that she might offer a conversation topic other than her hypothetical future with Jughead. She pushed open the door to the small restaurant, happy to see it was relatively empty, and held it open for Kevin to walk through. For lack of a better word, Betty would have described it as very ‘hipster’ with exposed brick surrounding them, and a spattering of quirky mirrors and ornaments decorating the walls - it was cute.

“Cheryl bombshell, long time, no see!” Kevin greeted her, skipping over and holding his arms open. Cheryl looked up from her phone, squealing when she saw him and darting off her chair to be enveloped in a hug.

“I’ve missed you!” she yelled excitedly.

“You act like it’s been years” Betty laughed, as she pulled out the chair beside where Cheryl had been sitting and draped her coat across the back, before seating herself at the table, “but you saw each other no more than three weeks ago.”

“And it’s been too long” Kevin pouted dramatically, pulling Cheryl in for another hug. After a moment, he detached himself from her and came to join Betty at the table, Cheryl following suit after him, sitting down next to her with a smile. “Someone else here, Cherry?” Kevin asked, pointing to a mystery purse that had been left on the chair beside him.

“Oh yeah, Josie. She went to the bathroom.”

“She’s back already, my darlings” the girl in question piped up behind them. “Hey B” she grinned, leaning down to her for a one-armed hug, extending the same greeting to Kevin.

“Hey Josie, how have you been?” Betty asked with a friendly smile. It really had been a while since she’d seen her. Unfortunately, she had missed her set at the bar the previous weekend as she’d had to go out looking for Cheryl, and it had been more than a few weeks before that. It was sad how life just got in the way sometimes. Betty had gotten to know Josie through Cheryl, because they were roommates in Freshman year and had remained close friends, much like she had with Veronica, her own former roommate.

“I’ve been good, girl!” Josie drawled sweetly, taking her seat. “My band actually got offered a regular performance gig at a bar on campus today, so I’m really happy, and so so proud of me and my girls” she beamed, the pride shining all over her face.

“Congratulations!” Kevin clapped animatedly.

“Well done, that’s so great” Betty affirmed, while Cheryl nodded in agreement, all of them smiling widely. “I haven’t been here before, is the food nice?” she asked, picking up a menu from the centre of the table. The four of them fell into an easy chatter while they read over the menus, before Cheryl went up to the counter to order on behalf of them.

Kevin had began telling Josie and Betty about how the previous night his boyfriend Joaquin, a former gang member, had been too scared to kill a spider in their apartment, meaning the responsibility had fallen to him. He suddenly stopped what he was saying, spotting something outside the restaurant. “Hey, it’s V” he said, leaning forward in his seat to knock on the window to catch her attention before Betty could stop him. Veronica’s head snapped to them at the noise, a smile forming as she spotted the three of them. When Kevin gestured for her to come inside, she started walking towards the entrance.

“Hey guys” she smiled as she walked up to where they were seated, met with a chorus of hellos from the three of them.

“What are you doing right now? Do you have a class?” Josie asked.

“Or do you wanna join us for a bite?” Kevin offered with a warm smile.

“Uh…” she hesitated when Cheryl sauntered back towards table. Upon spotting Veronica, Betty saw a flash of coldness spark in her cousin’s eyes but she wasn’t sure what to make of it. She knew the two of them hadn’t spoken since the weekend before, but she knew it wasn’t through a lack of Veronica’s trying as Betty had been on the receiving end of many frustrated and upset phone calls from her, begging for a solution. Of course, Cheryl had remained silent on the matter. “I don’t have to stay…” Veronica offered quietly towards her, with a small smile on her lips despite it not reaching her eyes.

Kevin and Josie clearly had no idea what was going on as their eyes flitted between the two girls in confusion, unsure of why there was so much tension clouding the air. Kevin nudged Betty with a questioning glance, to which she just shook her head apologetically - her lips were sealed.

After a moment longer, Cheryl’s gaze softened and she released an audible sigh. “Don’t be silly, of course you have to stay” she scolded playfully, stepping towards Veronica and pulling her in for a hug. Betty smiled as she saw how Veronica was startled for a moment, before she relaxed into her embrace. She turned in her chair so she was facing the table again. If she really strained to listen, she would have heard Veronica whisper that she was sorry, and she would have heard Cheryl assure her that she did nothing wrong - but that was between them, so Betty didn’t bother straining. She just smiled as Veronica pulled up a chair and took a seat on the other side of Cheryl.

“Well done Cher” Betty whispered just loud enough for her cousin to hear, giving her hand a light squeeze. Emotional maturity was a trick Cheryl was still learning, but Betty was glad she was trying. Veronica excused herself to order some food a moment later.

“Oh Betty, Cheryl! I’ve been meaning to ask!” Josie gasped, speaking up suddenly. “I heard about a Halloween party in your building, are you two going?”

“Where did you hear that?” Betty asked with a frown, it being the first time she’d learned of it.

“A guy who was playing at the gig last week, I don’t remember his name but I think he’s hosting it… he was certainly boasting about it enough” Josie shrugged.

Betty turned to Cheryl, “Archie?”

“Who else would it be?” she snorted before picking up her drink and taking a sip. “I’m assuming it’s a party on the building’s rooftop like he did last year, he pretended that he didn’t get the idea from _How I Met Your Mother_ ” she explained, rolling her eyes. “But if it’s happening, then yeah I’ll be going.” When Betty shot her a questioning glance she shrugged, “free booze, and an abundance of hot people a few floors above my apartment? I’d be a fool not to go.”

“You can count me in then, assuming anyone can go” Kevin grinned, clasping his hands in excitement. “Costumes, yes?”

“Of course!” Cheryl chuckled. She fished around in her purse for a second, pulling out her lipstick and a compact mirror, reapplying the colour to her lips.

“I guess I’ll swing by then. As long as you guys will be there, it can’t be that lame, right?” Josie added with a laugh. “You in girl?” she asked as Veronica sat down again.

“What’s going on?”

“Archie’s throwing a Halloween party at our building apparently, we’re all planning on going. You wanna join?” Cheryl asked with a friendly smile, packing her lipstick back away.

“Uh… maybe” Veronica replied hesitantly, wary as if Cheryl was setting her a trap. “To be honest, I’m not crazy about the idea of bumping into Archie” she confessed with a sigh.

“Me neither, but I promise I’ll protect you. If it sucks, we can bail and go somewhere else” she offered. “Failing that, we can all just get drunk at my apartment” she shrugged with a smile, earning a collective chuckle from the group.

“Sure, why not?” Veronica laughed, finally shrugging off her coat.

“You’re coming too, right Betty Boop?” Josie asked with a furrowed brow, noticing her silence over the past few minutes.

“Oh, I assumed I didn’t have a choice” she chuckled, glancing at Cheryl who just winked at her in confirmation. “But yeah, sounds good.”

When the conversation had moved on a little, Betty pulled her phone out, wondering if she would be able to avoid catching the attention of Kevin and Cheryl - which would inevitably lead to more teasing. After a moment’s consideration, she decided to risk it and started typing a text to Jughead.

**B: Archie’s hosting a halloween party?**

**B: Sorry, I’ve just realised you’re in a class.**

**J: Yeah. Apparently pissing the neighbours off just last year wasn’t enough, he wanted to have another crack at it.**

**J: And don’t worry, I was just about to die of boredom.**

**B: On the rooftop?**

**J: I made it clear that there was no way I was letting hoards of drunk people party in my apartment. He found a loophole.**

**J: Wait, does this mean you’re going to the party?**

**B: Yep, peer pressure is a powerful motivational tool haha.**

Betty slipped her phone back into her pocket when their food arrived, figuring that she should be at least a little sociable with her friends. She couldn’t remember the last time they’d gotten together in a group like that but the conversation was light and easy, and filled to the brim with laughter - it made Betty remember how lucky she was to have such a great set of friends.

They had already circled back to discussing the party, and were tossing ideas around about costumes, despairing at how late they’d left it already with Halloween just over two weeks away. Her favourite suggestion yet was Kevin’s proposal that the five of them dress as the Pink Ladies from Grease, with Betty of course as Sandy - the idea had the girls in stitches of laughter, conjuring the image in their heads (they would certainly be the most diverse set of Pink Ladies yet). With his growing insistence that, given a wig and a fifties skirt, he could pull off a convincing Frenchie, Betty became less and less sure that he had been joking. He seemed quite keen on the idea.

By the time Betty had finished up her lunch, it was time for her to start making a move towards her next class. So with a little reluctance, she gave her friends hugs, promising she’d see them soon and headed off to yet another dusty lecture hall. It was only when she looked to check the time on her phone, that she remembered she hadn’t checked to see Jughead’s reply.

**J: Huh, guess it won’t be so bad after all. I look forward to it :)**

It was crazy how happiness coursed through her at just a few simple words, spreading from the smile on her face down to low in her stomach, feeding the hundreds of fluttering butterflies that were growing there. Suddenly, Betty couldn’t wait for Halloween.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please please leave me a comment below.
> 
> Seriously please.


	6. six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter starts off a little different- with a Cheryl POV. I started writing it like that to help with writer's block, intending to switch it back later but I kinda liked it. Also, there's quite a bit of subplot in this one too, sorry!
> 
> BIG THANK YOU to daisy-chain-gardens who was my beta, super helpful and supportive. Literally could not have done this without you!

The usual drab and empty roof of their building had been transformed: Archie, and probably Jughead (there was no way it was a one-man job), had strung hoards of fairy lights across the space and around its edges, cascading light and shadows across the faces of the people below. To add to the Halloween festivity, they had scattered a few pumpkins around in various areas and there were strings of cobweb decorations draped over many surfaces. Mercifully, to protect them from the cool temperature of late October, a couple of heat lamps were lit up, fixed high on the wall on one side - as they were a potential safety hazard, Jughead had been watching them vigilantly throughout. All in all, it made for a pretty great Halloween party.

Cheryl stood on the outskirts of the rooftop, quietly nursing a drink and watching the party in full swing. She watched the people drinking and dancing underneath the strings of multicoloured lights, dressed in every costume known to man on the night of All Hallows’ Eve, laughing and wasting the evening in the best way. Any other day, she would have been in the centre of it all… but tonight, something felt off, and so she watched on silently as an outsider looking in.

From beside her, Betty gently nudged Cheryl with her elbow, casting her an ‘are you okay?’ look, to which she nodded firmly. She couldn’t help but smile as she cast her eyes over Betty’s outfit again, a lilac coloured costume complete with fluffy skirts resting mid thigh and a pair of small glittery fairy wings. As soon as she had seen it, Cheryl knew it would look perfect on her, and naturally, she had bought it immediately. She’d softened Betty’s natural curls into looser waves for the evening and nestled a small, delicate tiara into the top. But Cheryl had to admit, the way she’d done her cousin’s make-up was her masterpiece, a softer look than her own but nevertheless beautiful - the silvery eyeshadow dusted across her lids created the illusion of her eyes glowing brighter than ever.

“You look really beautiful B” she leaned closer so Betty would hear her almost whisper over the music.

“Thanks Cher, I quite literally couldn’t have done it without you,” she giggled quietly, fiddling with the top layer of her chiffon-y skirts. “Of course, you look incredible,” she smiled genuinely, returning the compliment. Cheryl herself had gone with a slightly toned-down version of Jessica Rabbit. Though she had all the body-confidence a person could want and definitely could have pulled it off, the original costume felt a little too much for a college party - or pseudo college party, since Archie, the host was a college dropout. In truth, the parties had been the only element of college he had actually enjoyed in is short attempt at higher education.

“Thank you,” she said with a small smirk and a wink, taking a sip of her drink and letting her eyes wander through the crowd again. When she glanced back at Betty, she noticed how she was nibbling her lip in a seriously failing attempt to bite back a smile. After following her gaze, Cheryl stumbled upon the reason why. Jughead was standing not too far away from them, staring back at her with a uncharacteristic smile on his face, not too dissimilar to Betty’s (if it wasn’t for the fact that he’d forgone a costume for some reason, Cheryl wasn’t sure she’d have known it was him). “For goodness’ sake” she laughed with a shake of her head, “I can’t believe you two.”

“What?” Betty’s head snapped back to her, blushing like she’d been caught.

“Your life would be a lot more fun if the two of you stopped pretending that you aren’t desperate to fuc-”

“Cheryl!” Betty shushed her frantically, her eyes skitting around them nervously, while the colour of her cheeks deepened so they were almost scarlet.

“Relax,” Cheryl said with a roll of her eyes. “Just go talk to him, anyone can tell you’re dying to” she nudged her in his direction.

“Are you sure? You going to be okay?” Betty asked, though the smitten smile was already reforming as she glanced back in Jughead’s direction, who was still watching her very unsubtly.

“Yeah, I’ll go join the others in a minute,” she assured jutting her head towards where Kevin was twirling a girl on each arm: Josie, wrapped in a gorgeous toga-like dress and Veronica, who was putting her own spin on Wednesday Addams (and pulling it off spectacularly). Kevin himself was dressed in a sharp-looking pilot’s jumpsuit, looking like their very own Maverick.

“Go!” she chuckled, pushing Betty forwards again and shaking her head. Cheryl’s laughter faded into a small smile as she saw Jughead was already walking towards her. She didn’t want to spy, so she turned away so she could pretend she wasn’t listening.

“Hi…” a quiet whisper, Betty’s wide smile was blaringly obvious in her voice.

“Hey…”

“Why on earth aren’t you wearing a costume?”

“You’re mistaken, Betty. I think you’ll find I have come as Jughead Jones, the invisible man,” he chuckled lowly.

“You’re not invisible” she laughed in return.

“Then it appears the assholes at my high school lied to me.”

“Well, you can’t not wear a costume at a Halloween party…”

“Well, I don’t have one, so I guess I’ll have to sit this one out.”

“How about I trade you?” Cheryl gave up on pretending not to be nosy and looked over her shoulder in time to see Betty carefully pull the tiara from her hair and subsequently plucking the beanie from Jughead’s head. “A crown, for a crown,” she chuckled as she slipped the tiara amongst his dark curls, and pulled the hat onto her own head with a triumphant looking grin.

“He doesn’t even let me touch that damn beanie,” an all too familiar voice said beside Cheryl, but she didn’t bother turning to look at its owner. “Do you think they realise how adorable they are?” he continued, edging closer to her.

“Go away, Archie,” she ground out with a clenched jaw, unwilling to participate in their usual disagreements and arguing. She just stood in her place, not moving her eyes from Betty and Jughead, watching as they talked and laughed; she had to admit, they were pretty cute together. Most importantly, it was great to see Betty looking so happy.

“Did you know she’s been coming over to our’s?” Cheryl rolled her eyes when Archie continued to talk. “A few times this week, I came home and they were sitting in the living room watching movies. With that and the fact that Jughead is practically glued to his phone nowadays… he only used to look at it like twice a week, you know,” Nothing he was saying was news to her, Betty had been surprising open about her interactions with Jughead since she’d confessed they’d become ‘friends’. He’d even been spotted in their own apartment a couple of times.

“Are you done?” Cheryl turned to Archie with a raised eyebrow and a cold stare fixed on her face, effectively silencing his ramblings.

“Yeah,” he swallowed, averting his gaze slightly. “Am I allowed to tell you look beautiful?” he asked, looking back at her. He was barely taller than her in her chosen heels, no longer able to stare down at her.

“No,” she said blankly. She decided she had had enough of their brief but pointless interaction, turning on her heel and preparing to walk away.

“Hey Cheryl…” Archie’s hand shot out to grab her wrist. His grip was loose enough that she could have easily just kept on walking, but she didn’t. Instead, she slowly twisted so she was facing him, met with that lazy, charming smile she had seen so many times before. “You look beautiful” he said quietly. It felt like reliving a memory - but with an unfamiliar painful twinge in her heart.

“You’re drunk,” she muttered dismissively, her eyes flicking to his warm brown ones as she began to smell the beer on his breath.

“Doesn’t make it any less true” he whispered, his hand slipping down from where it gripped her forearm to a loose hold on her wrist. His fingers were inches away from brushing hers. She swallowed hard, refusing to let herself fall for the same tricks he’d used on her countless times.

“That might actually be flattering if I wasn’t smart enough to know that you’ve said it to every other girl at this party” she said flatly, ripping her arm from his grasp with an icy glare. She mentally reminded herself that Cheryl Blossom does not do heartbreak.

“Will you just let me to talk to you for a few seconds?” he asked, a frown forming on his face. “I miss talking to you.”

“I don’t want to fucking talk to you Archie,” she was surprised when her words came out as more of a yell. “Leave me alone” she spat in a quieter tone, walking in the direction of where Kevin and the other girls were standing. Archie moved into her path before she could reach them, apparently refusing to let it go. Cheryl stared at him blankly, her jaw clenched hard.

“How many times do I have to apologise Cheryl?” he asked in almost a whisper.

“I don’t want your apologies Archie.”

“Then what the fuck do you want?” his voice raising a little now, strained and a little desperate sounding. A while ago, it might have been all she wanted to hear in his voice, but now she loathed it. “What is it going to take for you to forgive me?” he shouted indiscreetly, but it didn’t occur to either of them to care as heads started to turn towards them.

“I’m not going to forgive you Arch! It’s not happening.”

“Why the hell not?” he yelled, raking a hand through his hair.

“You know why!” she shouted, shoving him hard in the chest. “I wish you would just fuck off and leave me alone! Everything was so much easier before you got here!” She cursed internally when her voice lost its hard edge, trembling slightly somewhere in the middle.

“Yeah, because you can’t get hurt if you don’t let anyone in, right?” he spat. “One day, you’re gonna get tired of shutting people out-”

“Oh my God, would you just shut up?!” she yelled, delivering another shove to his chest. She hit him again, her hands curling into fists as she carried on, throwing hit after hit. She just got caught up in her anger, seeing red as the party blurred to nothing around her.

“Cher,” Betty’s gentle grip on her shoulder pulled her out of the haze. “Cheryl stop,” another quiet, soothing whisper came into her ear as Betty rubbed her back. From the corner of her eye, Cheryl saw Jughead roughly grab Archie under the arm and pull him away in the other direction. When Betty whispered for Cheryl to look at her, she refused, glancing away as her eyes filled with tears, ashamed and angry. “Okay, come on… let’s go downstairs.” Betty started guiding them through the crowd, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and rubbing her arm softly.

Cheryl wasn’t known for being especially vulnerable, it was a sight very few people got to see, at least usually - but now she could feel the eyes of everyone they passed burning holes into her skin. For the first time in a while, she felt the cracks in her walls of defence allow the pain to seep into her bloodstream and she hated it.

\---------

“How do I look?” Jughead asked, suppressing the smile that was looming (seeing Betty in his beanie wasn’t helping his efforts in the slightest).

“See for yourself” she giggled in return, holding up her phone and snapping a picture quickly before he could protest. “You look great, see!” Betty laughed, turning the phone so he could see and he was almost embarrassed by how smitten he looked, cleary staring at her behind the camera.

“If my sister ever saw this, she’d roast me alive” he grumbled, though it was admittedly a little half-hearted. “I’m gonna be honest, it’s not my favourite look” he chuckled.

“Oh come on, you’ve got to switch it from the flannels, sherpa jackets, and ever-present beanie every now and again, right?” she asked with a teasing smirk, adjusting the said hat on her head.

“You trying to tell me something, Betty?” Jughead chuckled.

“No” she chirped innocently. “Just that you might be a creature of habit,” she said, biting back a grin.

“That’s rich coming from you, pastel sweaters and ponytails,” he quipped back in return, stirring a laugh in Betty while she shrugged in defeat.

Her laughter died out when her gaze drifted and landed on Archie and Cheryl talking. He was holding onto her wrist, smiling but Cheryl didn’t seem to be all too happy with the interaction. “Do you know what’s going on there?” She asked Jughead, pointing in their direction. When his eyes landed on them, his forehead creased into a frown.

“Uh, I don’t know… I guess they do talk sometimes, though it’s mostly arguing,” he offered, glancing back at Betty, who was still staring after them. He couldn’t help but savour the moment her eyes were turned, studying her face (and wondering how someone could be so beautiful). When her eyes flicked back to his, her face flushed with rosy pink, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s probably nothing to worry about,” he said quietly, jutting his head towards them. “In my experience, Cheryl can usually handle him pretty well.”

After a moment, she let out a sigh, nodding slowly to herself. But she couldn’t help but glance over at them again, unable to relinquish her protective nature. They’d moved a little further away, but it was easy to see that Archie looked _pissed_ \- gone was the charming smile he’d had only a minute ago. Cheryl looked equally livid, and appeared to be yelling now, with little regard for the heads turning towards them.

“Are you sure that’s nothing to be concerned about?” Her gaze flitted back to Jughead, who was watching the scene unfold with a frown. Her teeth sank into her bottom lip, an uneasy feeling brewing in the pit of her stomach.

“Maybe we should…” he mumbled, taking a few steps in their direction. Betty followed closely behind as they started to move through the crowd towards them, still watching the pair cautiously. Betty let out a quiet gasp when Cheryl hit Archie in the chest, while Jughead sped up a little and his requests for people to move grew a little less polite. She was surprised when Jughead’s hand reached back and grabbed hers, gently pulling her with him - she had to remind herself that now was not the time to get excited, but a small jump in her heart rate betrayed her.

Betty suddenly rushed forwards when she saw Cheryl pummelling Archie’s chest repeatedly. She tried not to think about how much colder her hand felt without Jughead’s enveloping it; instead, she placed a hand on Cheryl’s shoulder and whispered quietly to her, trying to calm her down. Betty looked up to meet Jughead’s eyes, where he’d dragged Archie a short distance away, and offered him an apologetic smile before she turned and started guiding Cheryl to the safety of their apartment.

Jughead sighed as he saw Betty walking away, hanging his head for a moment before lifting it with a newly painted scowl. “What the hell was that, Arch?” he asked, his voice coming out more pissed off than he’d meant it to.

“Man, I screwed that up,” Archie sighed, leaning against the wall and rubbing a hand over his face.

“Yeah, you think?” Jughead mumbled, burying his hands in his pockets.

“That’s not helpful,” he shot him a weak glare.

“Oh I’m sorry, you think I’m here to give you sympathy?” Jughead scoffed, raising an eyebrow. “I’m asking what the fuck that was about.”

“I just wanted to talk to her…” he mumbled, averting his gaze and running a hand through his hair. “She’s never going to forgive me though” he cleared his throat, swallowing thickly.

“Look, I don’t have to ask what you did to know that it was probably stupid, so I’ll spare you that,” Jughead said, taking no notice of Archie’s glare. “But this whole display… the fact that you never leave her alone, you’re always trying to piss her off… probably trying to get her attention in your own fucked up way… It’s all starting to make me think that you’re not over her,” he sighed. The fact that Archie refused to meet his eyes had all but confirmed his theory.

“What if I wasn’t?”

“Then I’d tell you to cut the bullshit” he said bluntly. “If you like Cheryl, why are you sleeping with half the city? For goodness’ sake Archie, you even slept with one of her friends!”

“What? Who?” Archie’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion - Jughead had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at his obliviousness.

“Veronica. The day I found Betty’s cat in the sink, you remember? She’s even fucking here tonight,” he explained briefly, pointing over to where he’d spotted her with Betty’s other friend, Kevin. “Why do you have to play these games, dude? What went so wrong?”

“I got scared” he sighed. “I got scared of how she made me feel.”

“Why not just talk to her? Be honest with her, maybe skip the mind games for once?”

“Because every time I try to, she starts fucking yelling at me!” He shouted defensively.

“Because you _hurt_ her. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that she’s been through some shit, but from what Betty told me, it sounds like she has a hard time letting people in. If you burnt that bridge, it’s probably going to take a while to build it again and that’s not going to happen unless you actually try. Your usual tricks won’t work on this one.” Archie went silent, averting his gaze so he was staring out at the city below the building as he let his friend’s words soak in. “I’m gonna turn off the heat lamps and head back to the apartment, okay? Sorry, but I’m not really feeling this party,” he muttered, turning to walking to one of the lamps a few feet away from them.

“Hey Juggie?” Archie called, making him look back. “I’m sorry, okay? I know you hate getting mixed up in this kind of drama,” he sighed, with a small apologetic smile. “And I’m sorry, because I know you were looking forward to spending time with Betty tonight.”

“It doesn’t matter Arch,” he offered a half-hearted smile. ”Enjoy your party, okay?”

“To be honest, it hasn’t been as great as I’d hoped,” he breathed a quiet laugh, smiling at Jughead again before retreating to get another drink.

\--

“So, you guys were together?” Betty asked, handing Cheryl her tea before sitting on the couch beside her, dragging the blanket across her legs. Once they’d come back downstairs, the two of them had abandoned their costumes in favour of comfy sweatpants and baggy t-shirts - there was no chance they’d be going back to that party.

“We weren’t _not_ together. To be honest, we never really discussed what we were,” she explained, staring into the liquid in her mug.

“Is that why you never told me about him?”

“I never told anyone about him,” she let out a small laugh. “I was afraid of it blowing up in my face or something. Imagine that,” she muttered bitterly, taking a sip of her drink before placing it down on the coffee table.

“What happened?” Betty asked softly.

“I fell in love with him... and he freaked out because he has _so many_ commitment issues,” she sighed. “And we broke up.” Cheryl’s voice had been reduced to a whisper while she fiddled with a loose thread on the edge of the blanket. “And then he hooked up with someone, straight away. I went to talk to him, and there was a girl in his apartment… not even 24 hours after we ended things. I didn’t want anything to do with him after that.”

“Oh Cher, I’m so sorry.” Betty reached for her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Do you still have feelings for him?” She asked cautiously as it was evidently a sore spot.

Cheryl was quiet for a moment, pulling on the thread and twirling it around in her hands while lost in thought. “It had been a while since someone had tried hard enough to get past the cold exterior. He didn’t seem to care that I was a bitch to him at first, he still turned up everyday and tried to make me smile.” The smallest of smiles rested on her face as she spoke. “It was too easy to fall for him, and too hard to climb out… I guess it didn’t matter that he was an asshole,” she said quietly. Betty could hear the answer hidden amongst her words - she did still have feelings for him, but she didn’t want to.

“How long until you fall, B?” Cheryl asked with a tight lipped smile, reaching up and brushing the beanie Betty had forgotten she was wearing - she clearly wanted to divert the attention from herself a little.

“I barely know Jughead,” Betty mumbled, her eyes lowering to her lap.

“Oh please, you’re inseparable” Cheryl scoffed, grabbing her tea and taking a long sip. “This past week, you could bet your ass that if Betty was around, Jughead wasn’t far behind.” She raised an eyebrow, staring at her challengingly over the mug. “Just admit it, you like him,” she added with a knowing smile.

She thought about it for a moment, nibbling the corner of her lip. Truthfully, Betty had told herself it was time to quit pretending, she liked Jughead and you’d have to be blind not to see it… but it felt like another thing to say it aloud.

“I-” she was cut off by a knock on the door. Cheryl’s eyes snapped to the door and back to Betty’s while a small smirk appeared on her face.

“I bet you five bucks that that’s Jughead,” she grinned mischievously, nodding in the direction of the hallway.

“How do you know it isn’t Archie?” Betty retorted, pulling the blanket from her lap.

“Because Archie’s a douche, he’s not coming after me,” she said blankly as she stood up. It wasn’t said with venom or sorrow, it was more like she had accepted it and that made Betty’s heart sink a little - love could be cruel.

“Hey Caramel,” Betty cooed as she saw the cat stretched out in front of the door, walking towards her and leaning down to nudge her out of the way.

“Listen Caramel, we need to talk about you setting me up like you did with these two,” Cheryl smirked, breezing past them towards her bedroom with a smirk on her face.

Betty rolled her eyes at Cheryl’s teasing as she walked towards the door, pulling it open to reveal a mop of ebony coloured curls. Jughead was leaning against the doorframe, twirling the silver tiara between his fingers. Her stomach flooded with butterflies when he looked up at her with that lazy boyish smile of his, such a rare and wonderful sight. “I believe you have something that belongs to me,” he said, pointing to the beanie that was still covering Betty’s hair.

“You owe me five dollars!” Cheryl called from inside the apartment, laughing as she pushed open the door to her room. When Betty looked back at her with a glare, Cheryl merely winked at her before closing the door behind her.

“Do I want to know what that’s about?” Jughead questioned with a raised eyebrow when she turned back to him. Betty shook her head firmly, not knowing how she would even begin to explain it. “Is she okay?” he asked more quietly after a moment.

“She will be,” Betty assured with a small smile, slowly slipping the beanie from her hair and holding it out to him. Instead of pulling it on like she’d expected, he took it from her and tucked it into the back pocket of his jeans with a smile. “Done with the party?” she asked, taking the tiara back from him and tossing it on the table in the hall.

“I only went because of one person,” he said coolly, his eyes latching onto hers. “There didn’t seem much reason to stick around when they left.” Betty could feel the heat of her blush spreading across her face under his gaze, her heart beating just a little faster. She was almost thankful when he looked away, unable to pretend that her stomach wasn’t doing somersaults - almost.

The reason he’d broken his gaze was that Caramel had rushed past Betty’s feet and was rubbing her head against Jughead’s legs, purring loudly. He chuckled, crouching down carefully and stroking her head softly with a smile on his face. Like Betty, Jughead had also developed a soft spot for the cat as she became more amenable - the feeling was apparently mutual, as Betty had a suspicion that Jughead was Caramel’s new favourite person.

She leaned against the frame of the door as she watched Jughead for a moment, her heart rate returning to normal but a warm feeling running through her veins. It was adorable to see the soft smile on his face as he petted Caramel, occasionally letting out a quiet laugh. “She’s kind of cute I guess,” he said, looking up at Betty with a grin. ( She’s not the only one, ) Betty couldn’t help but think to herself.

“Do you want to come in for a bit?” she offered with a warm smile. “I’ve got beer.”

Jughead rose to his full height again, brushing his hands against his jeans. “Sounds great, Betts,” he said, giving her _that_ smile again that was doing weird things to her insides. She stepped aside, allowing him to stroll into the apartment while she called Caramel back inside.

She closed the door and turned around to see Jughead looking at her again. “Oh and I’m sorry, by the way,” he said softly.

“For what?” Betty frowned, struggling to think of a thing he’d done wrong.

“Earlier,” he muttered, shaking his head in regret. “I forgot to tell you that you looked beautiful.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are my lifeline, so please leave one <3 
> 
> Also, I switched tumblr blogs- I'm now at bettyl0vesjuggie. Give it a follow if you like :)


	7. seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been 5000 years since I updated, I know and I am ashamed. I've had a lot going on and writers block hit me hard on this one but after working on it for literally months @daisy-chain-gardens saved my ass and helped me get it done. She's a great beta - thanks Alex!
> 
> hope you enjoy!

“So this has been a pretty interesting Halloween,” Jughead said with a quiet laugh as he fell onto the sofa. He smiled gratefully when Betty handed him a beer bottle, before taking a long sip.

“Yeah, I guess it has been,” she shrugged, settling herself beside him and taking a drink herself. “Still one of the more exciting ones I’ve ever had, to be honest. My mom didn’t really like us celebrating it,” she said flippantly.

“Why’s that?” Jughead asked curiously, sensing that there was probably a little more to it. She had started pulling at the label on the bottle she was holding, thin bits of paper falling into her lap as she tore at it. It seemed like there was something she was holding back.

“She could be a little controlling at times… she still can, to be honest, but I guess it’s not so bad anymore,” she shrugged, her eyes cast down into her lap. “Uh, anyway, she didn’t really like me or Polly eating too much candy or anything in case I gained any weight, and since Halloween is basically the international holiday for eating candy… it was pretty much actively shunned in our household,” she breathed a quiet laugh, but there didn’t seem to be much humour behind it. “Polly had a little more of a rebellious high school phase than me and managed to sneak out to a couple of parties, but I didn’t ever really celebrate Halloween until I came to college.” While she spoke, Betty couldn’t bring herself to look up at Jughead. Instead, she just stared down at her hands, her thumb lightly rubbing over the faded silver scars on her palms - a constant reminder of everything she repressed during those long, lonely years of high school; always choosing what she thought her mother wanted, over everything else.

“Was she like that about a lot of things?”

She looked up at him with a sad smile, wordlessly answering his question. “She didn’t mean it that way, but it mostly did me more harm than good. I think she knows that a little more now. It took us a long time, but we’re on our way to being better at communicating.” Her smile widened to something a little more genuine, proud of the progress she and her mom had made. “What were your Halloweens like growing up?” she asked, grabbing her beer from the coffee table and taking a swig.

“Oh man,” Jughead sighed, thinking back to the pre-teen days before it all went south. “My parents didn’t really care for it either, but it was more of an indifference than a dislike,” he said, going to adjust his beanie before he realised he wasn’t wearing it. Instead his arm fell across the back of the sofa, his fingers falling just inches short of Betty’s shoulder - he tried not to think about it (really tried). “It didn’t really bother me, but when my sister got old enough I tried to take her out trick-or-treating for a while every year. I don’t really care about costumes-”

“Hadn’t noticed,” Betty said quickly, a sly smirk appearing over the brim of her bottle as she held it to her lips.

“Ha ha,” he deadpanned at her. “But Jellybean loved dressing up, so I had a go every now and again.”

“Sounds like you’re a pretty good big brother.” Betty murmured, a warm smile forming on her face as she thought about how much he mentioned her - it was easy to see how much Jughead loved his sister. “Do you see her often?”

“Not really,” he shrugged. “We talk on the phone every now and again, we text too. She keeps me updated on her life but uh… She lives with a foster family back in Riverdale. They don’t mind me visiting every once in a while but I try not to disturb them too much.” He paused for a moment, before he abruptly cleared his throat. “She’s happy with them, and that’s good enough for me,” he added, swallowing thickly.

“Where are your parents?” she asked quietly - mentally kicking herself and blaming the alcohol for her boldness. He had already seemed pretty uncomfortable, she shouldn’t have pushed him further. Thankfully, he didn’t seem too bothered by her prying.

“My dad is in a prison upstate, I see him a couple of times a year,” Jughead said with a little hesitance - people usually didn’t react well once they found out about his dad’s incarceration, something about being worried that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. But Betty’s face stayed mostly blank, other than a brief flicker of surprise. “And my mom... well I haven’t seen her in a long time. I don’t really know where she is,” he shrugged, forcing a weak smile.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly, reaching out and placing a hand on his leg - giving one gentle squeeze. She didn’t really know what else to say; Betty couldn’t fathom what right she had to comment on his family problems. Her complicated relationship with her mother aside, her own family wasn’t all that unpleasant, but Jughead seemed alone.

“It’s okay,” Jughead murmured - it wasn’t, but he’d never known what else he was supposed to say. “Besides, Archie’s dad has made it his mission to adopt me in recent years,” he added in a much lighter tone.

“Yeah?” Betty said, breathing a laugh and subtly prompting him to go on.

“Well kind of, yeah,” he said - he had been half joking and yet the truth wasn’t all that far off. “Fred grew up in Riverdale, and he moved back years later when he and his wife got divorced,” Jughead explained, a smile creeping onto his face as he remembered his latter years in Riverdale. “He knew my dad pretty well back in the day and when he went to prison, Fred made it his mission to swoop in and rescue me and my sister. He didn’t manage to wrangle JB too, but before too long he was my foster father.”

“That’s incredible,” Betty murmured, doubting her parents would ever be willing to do something so generous. “Is that how you and Archie met?” she asked.

Jughead nodded. “Archie lived with his mom in Chicago, but he spent the summers with us in Riverdale. I think we were all surprised to realise that he and I got along so well,” he chuckled, the stark differences between him and Archie had never been lost on them - but above all else, he was kind and loyal, and that had created a pretty solid foundation between them. “And now the Andrews are basically my surrogate family… Fred still treats me like a son, long after his fostering duties were up.”

“That’s really nice,” Betty said quietly, secretly wishing she could think of something to say that sounded less lamely. Truthfully, she thought she might understand a little of his situation - his relationship with Archie seemed to be vaguely similar to what she and Cheryl had gone through - and yet she couldn’t find the words.

“Yeah, I’m lucky to have them,” Jughead mused with a fond grin, grabbing his bottle and bringing it to his lips. “Hey, look at that,” he said, breathing a laugh.

“What?” she asked, a smile growing on her lips.

“We shared childhood traumas, I guess we’re real friends now,” Jughead said, laughing to himself as he leaned back into the couch.

“I guess so,” Betty said, clinking her bottle with his with a light-hearted laugh. ( Friends. Yeah, I don’t like that. ) she thought to herself as she finished what was left in her bottle.

They lapsed into a short silence, not necessarily uncomfortable though. With the window cracked open slightly, Betty could hear the noise of the party still going strong. Cheers and chatter mixed amongst the music as hoards of college kids were getting drunk and letting loose just a few floors above her head and where had she ended up? Back on her couch, on a saturday night - same old.

“Do you fancy something stronger?” Betty asked suddenly as she twirled the empty bottle in her hand, turning to Jughead with a whisper of a smirk trained on her lips.

A slow smile spread across Jughead’s face as he met her gaze. “What did you have in mind?”

“I’m pretty sure we have some vodka or _something_ in the kitchen? You want some?”

“You don’t seem like the kind of person who indulges in hard liquor very often, if you don’t mind me saying,” Jughead said, an eyebrow quirked questioningly. “What gives?”

“It’s Halloween, and I was supposed to go to a party and get drunk,” Betty shrugged. “I’m not at a party anymore, and I don’t really wanna go back… but it’s still Halloween and I could still get drunk,” she suggested, not even sure where she was going with her point.

Jughead let out a low chuckle before finishing off the last of his own drink and placing the empty bottle on the table in front of them, falling back into the couch cushions wearing a smirk of his own. “Well, I can’t let you drink alone.”

\--

“What do you mean you’ve never seen it?” Jughead half-yelled, his voice coming out slightly strangled - with that and his eyes so comically wide, Betty couldn’t help but giggle. “Betty, it’s a classic!” he added in disbelief, making Betty laugh harder.

( Okay, it’s definitely not that funny, ) she told herself mentally. ( It’s possible I’ve had too much to drink. )

After a few minutes of searching the kitchen cupboards, Betty had come marching back into the living room armed with a dusty, unopened bottle of tequila, a couple of shot glasses and a menacing smile. Jughead’s eyes had widened in surprise when she unscrewed the cap and taken a swig straight from the bottle, chuckling at the way her face scrunched at the sharp taste. When she recovered, she had held the open bottle out to him with an eyebrow quirked challengingly. He had stared at the bottle for a few moments before whispering ‘fuck it,’ under his breath and grabbing the bottle, swigging a gulp himself, wincing slightly once he swallowed it. It had been a while since he’d drank anything other than beer, let alone hard liquor.

But one shot had turned into two... and two had led to another... and the pile of empty beer bottles on the coffee table seemed to be growing somehow.

For a moment Betty had glanced at the coffee table and bit down on her lip worriedly, wondering whether it was time to call it quits and go to bed. But she had reminded herself that it was okay to let loose sometimes, and she was having fun. She had been pulled back into Jughead’s drunken chatter and hadn’t looked back.

They conversation had somehow been steered to movies. They’d watched a couple together in the past couple of weeks, mostly by Jughead’s recommendation -  Betty trusted his suggestions, since he claimed he used to work in his hometown’s drive-in movie-theatre. But when he’d suggested watching a horror movie, in true Halloween spirit, she’d put her foot down.

“I’m sorry!” she chuckled, holding her hands up defensively. She grabbed the tequila bottle from his hands, pouring out the clear liquid into one of the shot glasses laying on the table and throwing it back. She quickly poured out a another, handing it to Jughead and filling another shot glass for him while he drank it.

“Shit,” he groaned, taking the second glass with a grimace. “You trying to get me drunk, Cooper?” he asked with a laugh before throwing back the shot.

“You’re already drunk, Jones” she giggled, falling back into the couch, grabbing a pillow and hugging it to her chest.

“Wait, I was scolding you!” Jughead yelled suddenly, before turning to her with what he probably thought was a pretty stern expression, but Betty had to clap a hand over her mouth to suppress her laughter. “So, to recap… you’ve never seen the Shining,”

“Nope,” she said, popping the p.

“Or Poltergeist.”

“No.”

“Or the Ring?”

“Definitely not.”

“How about It?”

“It what?”

“You know, _It_! Stephen King’s It. The original or the new film.”

“Oh, then no.”

“Nightmare on Elm Street?”

“Are you just going to name all the horror movies?”

“Yes.”

“Well, we’re gonna be here a while because I’ve never really seen one,” Betty said, breathing a laugh.

“What?!” Jughead shouted in shock. 

“I don’t like them!”

“But how do you know if you’ve never seen one?” he groaned. 

“A boy from my high school took to see a horror movie for a first date,” she explained, wrinkling her nose as she remembered. “I was maybe 15 and I _barely_ knew him but apparently he thought it would be a great idea… but I cried and left not even halfway through. I called my mom and asked her to pick me up,” she said, laughing at it now, but she recalled at the time she has sworn she might never sleep again. “Kind of haven’t been into them since that.”

“Sounds like a great first date. I take it things didn’t work out between you two?” Jughead asked with a laugh.

“How did you know?” Betty gasped overdramatically, before it melted into laughter. “I don’t need to watch those movies anyway. Thanks to the internet, I know the plot to basically every one of them, so there’s no point anyway,” she shrugged, grabbing one of the few unopened beer bottles on the table.

“There’s no point in…” he muttered under his breath in disbelief, reaching for the tequila bottle. He took a swing and then looked her dead in the eye and announced, “Betty Cooper, we cannot be friends anymore.”

“What?” She threw her head back laughing.

“Anyone who denies themselves of such a cinematic experience just because they know the plot cannot be a friend of mine!” he declared dramatically, wiping his hands on his jeans and preparing to stand up.

“Shut up,” she chuckled, grabbing his wrist pulling him back down onto the couch - he was seated slightly closer to her than he had been before. If it hadn’t been obvious that he was joking before, the charming, lopsided grin he was giving her made it clear. She tucked her legs beneath her and propped an arm against the back of the couch, so she was angled towards him slightly.

“You should try watching one again,” he said, with a lazy smile, dropping his head onto the back of the sofa. “Might not be so bad now that you’re not 15,” he suggested with a shrug.

“Yeah, maybe I will,” she said quietly, her eyes drifting over his face - too drunk to care about hiding it. “You gonna watch it with me? I need all the support I can get,” she murmured.

“Possibly, depends if you slander any more of my favourite films,” he said with a small teasing glare. His face was so close to her hands, her fingers itched to reach out and brush against his skin, to thread through the curls flopping over his forehead.

“I’ll try my hardest not to,” she said, breathing a quiet laugh. “Best behaviour from now on.”

Apparently the alcohol had taken full control, because her fingers inched that short distance forwards and started gently stroking Jughead’s hair. While he looked a little surprised, he definitely didn’t seem horrified by the action, his face fading into a soft smile as she began to thread her fingers gently through the strands.

“So, I guess you’re not bald under the hat afterall,” Betty murmured.

“I guess not,” he chuckled. “Disappointed?”

“Very much so, would have been very interesting,” she joked while she twirled a long curl around her finger. Drunk Betty apparently had zero boundaries.

“You don’t seem very disappointed,” he said in mock-suspicion, looking up at her with narrowed eyes.

“You caught me,” she conceded, breathing a soft laugh.

They had been lulled into a comfortable silence, the only sound coming in the form of chatter from the ongoing party, drifting in through the open window, and the gentle rhythm of of their breathing. Jughead’s eyes drifted shut as Betty continued to gently mess with his hair, a soft sigh escaping his lips. Betty took the opportunity to let her eyes drift over his face. It was nice to see him like this: slumped into her couch, so unguarded and relaxed (and a little blurry around the edges, on account of the tequila).

“Hey, Betts?” Jughead murmured, slowly opening one eye and squinting against the light.

“Yeah?”

“If you keep doing that I’m gonna fall asleep,” he said, breathing a laugh as he opened his eyes fully, “and that would be a great shame.”

“But you’ve got _such nice hair_ ,” Betty whined in protest, jutting her bottom lip childishly but she made no effort to remove her hands from his silky locks. When her fingernails lightly scratched against his scalp, it stirred a low hum from Jughead’s lips that he tried to cover up by clearing his throat but not before a smirk rushed onto Betty’s features. A little reluctantly, she moved her hand away, tucking it under her chin as she rested her elbow on the back of the couch so she was angled towards him. “You shouldn’t hide it so much,” she added quietly, casting a glance towards the beanie that Jughead had dropped onto the coffee table at some point in the evening.

“I could say the same thing to you,” Jughead muttered, reaching up and flicking a strand of Betty’s hair into her face, laughing when she scrunched her nose. “You never wear it down like this.”

“An old habit,” she shrugged, running a hand through her own hair, a little self consciously. “My mom used to insist I wore it in a ponytail, ‘cause it looked untidy,” she said quietly, avoiding Jughead’s gaze - but she could feel his eyes on her.

“Your mom’s not here, Betty. You’re an adult,” Jughead murmured softly, lifting his head from the back of the couch and straightening up a little. He shuffled a few inches closer on the couch.  “And whatever way you wear your hair...” Betty’s breath caught when he reached out a pushed a strand of hair away from her face; his fingers lingering, brushing softly against her skin. “You are beautiful. One of the most beautiful people I have ever met,” he breathed in a whisper.

“Jughead…” Betty murmured, biting down on her bottom lip nervously. Jughead’s gaze flicked down to her mouth, hovering there for seconds that dragged on like hours. His hand had shifted to gently cup her cheek, his thumb lightly sweeping along her cheekbone and it was having a maddening effect. Betty’s heart was beating so erratically inside her chest, it felt like it was pushing electricity through her veins.

Her gaze dropped to his lips. Over the past few minutes, Jughead had slowly shuffled closer, so there was barely a distance remaining between them. It wouldn’t take much to close the gap, to press her lips against his.

( Fuck it. )

A whisper of a smile appeared on Jughead’s lips as Betty began to slowly inch closer to him, his hand slipping back into her hair.

But their lips didn’t touch, because Betty’s heart leapt into her throat when someone pounded on the door, scaring the hell out of her. The two of them froze in place, neither one of them daring to move away.

“Are you drunkards gonna get it or do I have to get out of bed?!” Cheryl screeched through her bedroom door after a few moments.

“I got it, Cher!” Betty yelled back in a slightly softer tone, before turning back to Jughead and offering him an apologetic smile as she slipped off the couch.

She pretended not to hear when he whispered, “For fuck’s sake,” underneath his breath. She couldn’t stop the grin from breaking out on her face once her back was turned though.

She walked out into the hallway, only to find that Cheryl’s head was popped out from behind her door with a very uncharastically-Cheryl grin on her face, looking between Betty and the living room doorway. “Were you guys making out?” she asked, the smug smile not letting up.

“What?! Cher, no!” she whispered frantically, glancing back towards the door when the knocking sounded again.

“You’ve got to tell me when you do because me and Kevin started a pool,” she called after her as Betty made her way towards the entrance of their apartment.

“I hope you’re joking,” Betty said sternly (though she had this horrible sinking feeling that she might not be). She pulled open the door to reveal a very giggly (and presumably very drunk) duo crowded in the doorway.

“B!” Veronica shouted enthusiastically, rushing forwards and throwing her arms around Betty in a tight hug. “I love you so, so, sooo much, did you know that!?”

“Yeah, V. I love you too,” Betty said, breathing a laugh.

“I’m serious, Betty! You gotta promise you’ll never, ever leave me,” she blubbered, squeezing Betty tighter as she continued her drunken ramblings.

“This is what I’ve been dealing with for hours now,” Kevin chuckled, reaching between the two of them to poke Veronica in the ribs.

“I don’t doubt that,” Betty muttered under her breath, knowing how affectionate Veronica got when she drank. “You love me too, Kev?” she asked over Veronica’s shoulder, a playful smile tugging on her lips.

“Very much so, babe,” he said, throwing her wink.

“What have you guys done with Josie?” she asked, gently pulling herself from her friend’s death-grip. Kevin stepped aside to reveal Josie sitting on the floor behind him, her head lulled against the wall with a goofy grin on her face. “Jeez, is she okay?” Betty asked Kevin hurriedly as she rushed forward to crouch by Josie.

“She’s fine, just a lightweight,” Veronica chimed in with a giggle.

“Of course she is, she’s tiny!” Kevin added. “Though, to be fair, she was doing okay until Ronnie suggested shots.”

“Jose, you okay?” Betty murmured in a quiet voice, shaking her shoulder gently.

Her eyes opened slowly, and they were a little glazed over but at least she was conscious. “Hey, Betty Boop. You doing okay?” she slurred, hiccuping a little.

“I’m doing great,” she said with a small smile. Betty was thankful that she had sobered up a little before they got here - the shock of the whole Jughead incident probably had something to do with that.

“What’s going on out here?” Cheryl asked, walking into the doorway of the apartment. “Oh christ,” she muttered, when her eyes landed on Josie.

“Cheryyyl!” Josie yelled, waving an arm around slightly before it dropped against her side again. “Hey, babe!” she crooned, her eyes drifting shut again.

“Okay, you sloppy bitch, let’s get you inside,” Cheryl said as she walked out into the hallway. Betty grabbed Josie’s hands as Cheryl looped her own hands underneath her armpits and gently pulled her to her feet. “There you go!” she muttered, pulling one of Josie’s arms over her shoulders as Betty did the same on the other side.

“We’ll get you a big glass of water, okay Jose?” Betty said softly. “For you two, as well,” she said, pointing to Kevin and Veronica as they walked past them - unleashing another wave of giggles in the pair of them for some unknown reason. “Come on, inside.”

“Sorry, B,” Veronica said as she closed the door behind them. “We were gonna call a cab but Kevin’s phone is dead and I can’t find mine!” she explained in a panicked hurry.

“That’s because it’s in your purse, which you left here before the party,” Betty reassured her as she breathed a laugh. “And don’t worry, you guys can stay here. We’ll squeeze you in somehow. You can call cabs in the morning”

“I would offer to have Josie in my room but she looks like she might vom and I cannot deal with that,” Cheryl said, rolling her eyes. She started steering them towards the living room, Josie in tow.

“I volunteer as tribute!” Kevin yelled dramatically, causing Veronica to burst out into hysterical laughter. “I could never pass up an opportunity to cuddle with my Cher-bear,” he added with a smirk.

“Careful Kevin, I might have to take advantage of you. You look mighty fine as Maverick” she teased, tossing him a wink over her shoulder. “Oh, how about that! I completely forgot you were here, Jones,” Cheryl deadpanned as they awkwardly stumbled into the living room.

“Uh… is everything alright?” Jughead murmured, his eyes slightly widened as he took in the abundance of people who had suddenly appeared.

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Betty said, offering him what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

“Betty! Why didn’t you invite us to the after-party?!” Kevin shouted with a gasp, pointing to the empty bottles on the table. His eyes widened when he saw the tequila bottle, snatching it up but Cheryl quickly grabbed it from him with her free hand, throwing him a scolding glare. “Hey handsome, we meet again,” he said when his eyes landed on Jughead, wiggling his eyebrows a little - if it was meant to be enticing of any kind, it royally failed.

“Sorry, he’s a flirty drunk,” Betty whispered to Jughead as they approached the couch where he was sitting, depositing Josie next to him. Cheryl perched on the cushions beside her, gently lulling her awake again.

“I can see that,” Jughead murmured, a quiet laugh escaping his lips.

“Do you want some water?” she asked with a small smile.

“Sure… hey, do you need any help with this?” he muttered, wiping his hands on his jeans awkwardly.

“No, don’t worry I got it,” Betty assured him, before disappearing into the kitchen. She grabbed a load of water bottles from the fridge, realising that they didn’t have enough for everyone. She unscrewed the cap of one of the bottles, taking a few long sips for herself before replacing the lid and hoping that whoever got it would be too drunk to notice - she decided she would get herself some from the faucet or something later.

When she returned to the living room, Kevin was slumped in their worn-out armchair and Veronica was wedged into the corner of the couch, beside Cheryl and Josie.

“Where’d Jug go?” she asked, passing Kevin a water bottle. He took it gratefully and started taking large gulps.

“Relax, he went to the bathroom,” Cheryl said, smirking at Betty almost accusingly whilst she rubbed Josie’s back, whose head had fallen onto her shoulder. Betty glared at her a little, to which Cheryl just stuck her tongue out teasingly.

“Kev, don’t drink that so fast. Small sips,” she reminded, tapping him on the shoulder lightly. “If you throw up, I’m not cleaning it up.”

“Yes, Miss Cooper,” he said, giving her a mock salute and a mischievous smirk.

Betty rolled her eyes at him and shuffling towards the couch, passing Cheryl a water bottle for Josie and handing another to Veronica.

“You’re so good to us, B,” Veronica mumbled as she opened the bottle, taking a few sips as her eyes drooped slightly. “Always looking after us.”

“That’s me,” she said weakly. At this point, all Betty wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep for 12 hours, her tiredness suddenly hitting her all at once. Once she glanced at the clock, she realised why - it was nearing 3am.

“I’ll have Josie in my room, I wanna keep an eye on her,” Betty announced, mostly to Cheryl - who was clearly the most competent of them all at this point - to which she nodded in agreement. “V will either have to sleep on the couch or squeeze into one of the beds with us,” she added.

“Veronica Lodge, of the Park Avenue Lodges? Sleep on a couch?” Kevin gasped in mock-disbelief.

“Are you always so goddamn sarcastic?” Veronica scolded him, stretching her leg out so she could give him a gentle kick with the pointed toe of her shoe. “I’m fine on the couch,” she assured Betty with a smile.

“Don’t be ridiculous, you can come cuddle with me and Kevin,” Cheryl said with a small smile.  

“Are you sure? Will we all fit?” Veronica asked, laughing lightly.

“Yeah, I imagine so… My bed’s a queen-size-”

“And Ronnie’s bitesize,” Kevin chimed in with a smug smirk.

“Listen here, Keller!” Veronica yelled, diving towards the armchair and ultimately onto Kevin.

“Cher, I’ll be back in a minute,” Betty mumbled as she walked past the couch.

“Going to find loverboy?”

“None of your business,” she yelled playfully over her shoulder.

As she had suspected, Jughead was waiting for her out in the hallway, propped up against the wall, resting with his eyes closed. His beanie had been secured back over those glorious locks of his, hidden away from the rest of the world.

“Hey,” Betty said softly, alerting him to her presence.

“Hi,” Jughead murmured, his eyes snapping open as he pushed himself away from the wall. “Sorry, I thought you might have your hands full in there,” he chuckled.

“Yeah, you’re not wrong,” Betty sighed. “Here,” she said, holding out the last water bottle in her hands.

“Oh, don’t worry about it, I’ll get have some at home,” he said with a weak smile. “Speaking of which, I should probably be heading to bed,” he added, a little reluctance laced into his tone.

“I guess so,” Betty murmured, a small part of her wishing the night didn’t have to end… wishing they could finish what they had started. But the moment had gone, the mood had shifted and it was time to sleep it off.

She started shuffling towards the door to show him out, but Jughead gently grabbed her wrist, holding her in place.

“I had a really great time tonight, Betty,” he whispered in a low voice, a lazy smile at his lips. “I love hanging out with you,” he added, before gently tugging her towards him and wrapping an arm around her in a light hug. Before he could pull away, Betty curled her arms around his torso, holding him tightly and burying her head into his chest. It was so freaking warm - being enveloped in his arms, her body pressed against his - and so inviting, Betty didn’t feel much like letting go.

But like every moment does, it passed. Jughead pulled away, looking down at her with a contented smile that Betty was sure was mirrored on her own face.

“I can show myself out, don’t worry, I’ll let you get back to your friends,” he mumbled quietly.

“Thanks,” Betty muttered, not sure she was capable of other words right now, because her insides had turned to mush.

“Okay,” Jughead said, nodding slightly as he continued to hover in the hallway. “Goodnight Betty,” he said softly after a few moments, before leaning down and pressing a gentle a kiss on her cheek. She could feel her face immediately flush with blood, but hoped he wouldn’t notice in the low light in the hallway.

“Goodnight Juggie,” she whispered as he made his way towards the door, frozen in place. Once he’d closed the door behind him, Betty let out a heavy sigh and slumped against the wall. After she took a few moments to collect herself, she pushed herself off the wall and made her way back into the living room with a bright smile on her face.

The growing complications in her ‘friendship’ with Jughead could be future Betty’s problems; present Betty needed to get her drunk-ass into bed.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE leave a comment <3


	8. eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This author would like to apologise immensely for the wait on this chapter. Please take this long-ass chapter as an offering, I hope that you will forgive me <3
> 
> Thank you as always to @daisy-chain-gardens for being my beta

Betty woke up the following morning to a sound she hadn’t been expecting: silence. 

She had winced slightly as her eyes fluttered open, feeling the effects of last night’s intoxication catch up with her, before turning onto her side with a groan to avoid the light that was creeping in through the gaps in the curtains. Betty frowned as she realised that Josie wasn’t in the bed with her anymore, as she definitely had been all the times she had briefly stirred from her sleep during the night. She sat up slowly, letting the covers fall around her waist as she had a second realisation that the apartment was eerily quiet given the amount of guests they’d taken in the night before. Still stirring from her sleep and adjusting to the sharp pain in the head, Betty decided that she would emerge from her room and seek answers soon… but there was no reason why she had to start right that second - just a few more minutes in bed couldn’t hurt. 

Betty stretched her limbs out a little, her arms reaching above her head and her toes nudging the warm ball of fur tucked into the corner of her bed. She smiled softly as her eyes landed on Caramel, yawning as she was so rudely awoken from her slumber.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” Betty cooed, her voice still a little thick with sleep as she carefully shuffled down the mattress. “Where did everybody go, huh?” she muttered, reaching out and petting Caramel as she continued to slowly stir from her sleep. She quickly raised up onto her paws and stretched for a moment before skipping over and placing herself in Betty’s lap, purring appreciatively as she nestled into her new spot. “Well, it’d be cruel if I moved now,” Betty tutted at her, despite the contented smile spreading on her face.

She stayed there for a few minutes, stroking Caramel as she struggled to muster the motivation to leave the safety of her room. In there, the hangover wasn’t too bad: it was quiet, comfortable, the drapes were closed, with no one but Caramel to judge her for her serious consideration to wallow in bed for the rest of day. Outside was all noise and people, and a very real possibility of throwing up the second she decided to move. ( No, thank you. )

Betty sighed as she looked up and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror across the room and then decided she couldn’t blame Josie for leaving as soon as possible. The messy bun that had already been falling apart when she collapsed into bed had gotten tangled and looser whilst she slept, and the make-up that she hadn’t quite managed to remove was smudged across her face. 

“Sorry, Caramel,” she sighed as she eased the cat off her lap, who was grumbling in protest as she sought out a new spot in the middle of bed. Betty shook her head with a laugh as she stood up from the bed, grabbing the hairbrush from her dresser and pulling the hair tie from the disaster on top of her head. She spent a few moments tearing the brush through the tangles before sighing and throwing it up into a new bun, slightly neater than the last, and decided she would have to tackle it once she had showered. But first she needed food - and a quiet cluttering that she suspected was coming from the kitchen, accompanied with the enticing smell that had begun to creep in underneath the door had led Betty to believe that there was life in the apartment after all. So, after quickly rubbing a face wipe on her skin to remove any remnants of make-up, she stepped out into the hall and padded towards the kitchen.

She stopped in the open doorway, biting back a smile as she saw Veronica dancing around the kitchen to whatever pop song was playing on the radio - waving the spatula around in the air as she had most likely forgotten about the eggs and bacon turning crispy on the stove. 

“Morning, V,” Betty said, announcing her presence to her friend as she shuffled further into the room. 

Veronica whipped around with a cheerful smile. “Oh sweetie, you look like hell,” she said upon her eyes zeroing in on Betty. 

“Oh, thank you,” Betty chirped sarcastically as she lowered herself onto one of the stools beside the small kitchen island, opposite where Veronica was standing. “The question is, how do you  _ not  _ look like hell right now? Or was I imagining hearing you throw up at 5:30 in the morning,” Betty grumbled as she scanned her friend up and down - nothing but the usual flawless, glowing skin and no hair out of place. She was seemingly wearing borrowed clothes from Cheryl: dressed in a short leather skirt and a tight-fitting grey sweater, it seemed to match the level of inappropriateness for November temperatures that was consistent with Cheryl’s wardrobe. 

“It’s all out of my system now. Besides, you don’t know the hammering that’s happening inside my head right now,” she said, placing two fingers on her forehead as she simultaneously remembered she was holding a spatula and whipped back around to the stove. “Plus I’ve had time to shower and you have  _ clearly _ just rolled out of bed.”

“Laying it on thick with that signature Lodge charm this morning, aren’t we V?” Betty chuckled, letting her hand fall so both arms were resting on the counter. “So, where is everyone?”

“Joaquin came to pick up Kevin earlier this morning and Cheryl left about 20 minutes ago to drive Josie home,” Veronica explained as she started shovelling the contents of the pan onto two plates. 

“You didn’t go with them?” 

“I was still passed out at this point of the morning. Cheryl left a note,” she explained as she placed one of the plates, complete with somewhat charred-looking bacon, eggs and slightly burnt toast, in front of Betty. “Sorry. We’re all aware of my lackluster skill in cooking,” Veronica said as she grimaced down at her own food, “but I woke up with an urgent need for bacon, so I made good with what I had.”

Betty breathed a laugh as she picked up a piece of bacon and took a bite, although she could practically hear her mother barking at her in the back of her brain, telling her to use a knife and fork. “It does the job. Thanks V,” she said with a smile, picking up another bite of bacon as she pushed herself up to actually seek out some cutlery, but not before she made a beeline for the aspirin that Veronica had left out on the countertop. “So, fill me in on the party,” Betty said as she grabbed a glass from the cupboard and began to fill it with juice. “Or at least what you can remember,” she added with a hint of a smirk.

“Your usual college party, I think. People were drunk, there was a lot of dancing, I’m pretty sure someone threw up… you know, it was a party.” She shrugged in between inhaling bites of her food. It was a rare sight indeed, to see Veronica Lodge behave so improperly, but after living together for all of freshman year, both of them had realised that the guard had to be let down at some point - incidentally, it did most often happen to coincide with their most dreadful hangovers. The greasy breakfast and rundown of the night before for hangover relief had become a standard practice of theirs at some point.

“Come on, you’ve gotta give me more than that,” Betty said, rolling her eyes as she returned to her seat. 

“Okay… let me think,” she sighed, wiping her hands and propping them under her chin as she apparently plunged deep into thought. “I got way too drunk, as you know, and started flirting with that guy Reggie again - you remember, Archie’s friend… I had no choice, the other options at that party were dire. Anyway, upon checking this morning, I seem to have acquired his number, so that’s  _ interesting _ . I also vaguely recall him trying to set Josie up with his friend… maybe Charlie? No wait, I think it was Chuck!” she babbled, seemingly recapping to herself more than Betty, not giving her a second’s space to chime in other than breaths of laughter. “Then Kevin got upset because he felt left out, so we dropped the guys and danced with him instead, because we are  _ good friends _ .” 

Betty looked down when she felt soft fur brushed against her ankles - Caramel must have smelled the food and wandered in. She waved a hand to indicate that Veronica should proceed with her retelling - though it didn’t look as though she had any intention of stopping - whilst she left her seat to put some kibble in the little bowl in the corner. 

“Hmm... what else- Oh yeah! Someone called ‘Moose’ apparently threw up in a flower box after doing a keg stand, which I didn’t  _ see _ , but if he’s called ‘Moose’ then he’s bound to be a frat guy so it’s highly plausible,” Veronica commented with a shrug. “Archie also came over a couple of times and asked about Cheryl, which we collectively agreed not to mention to her,” she added, slightly quieter, to which Betty nodded in confirmation as she returned to her seat at the counter. “And then, to cap off the night, we came downstairs to discover  _ you,  _ young lady, were hiding away with something tall, dark and handsome! Your turn!” Veronica declared triumphantly as she turned her attention back to her breakfast. “Spill, every detail. Go.”

Betty grimaced, partly at the fact that she was obliged to share the details of her night but mostly at that when Veronica had mentioned him, she was suddenly flooded with a vague memory of staring at Jughead’s lips, his hands on her face, frenzied butterflies in her stomach as she began slowly leaning in and-

“I want to know what that blush means,” Veronica said accusingly, waggling a finger at Betty’s face. “Start talking, B.”

“I don’t know...” she groaned, letting her head fall in her hands as she mulled over the hazy events of the night. “Okay, so we started talking at the party but it got cut short because of all the Cheryl and Archie drama and so I was feeling kinda bummed… but then he showed up here.”

“Interesting, please continue,” Veronica mused with an exaggeratedly furrowed brow, making Betty laugh slightly.

“So, I invited him in and we had a couple of beers… and then we had a whole lot of not-beer,” she said, wincing slightly as she remembered the volume of tequila she’d consumed. “And we were talking and laughing…”

“Aaaaand?” Veronica drawled with a mischievous smirk. 

“And I think I tried to kiss him,” Betty said quietly, not quite sure if she’d imagined it all (part of her hoping so). 

“Tried?” A mildly baffled expression had appeared on Veronica’s face. “All this,” she said, gesturing to Betty’s still heated cheeks, “and you didn’t  _ actually _ kiss him?”

“What?” Betty questioned with a frown, a little confused by her underwhelmed tone. 

“B, anyone in a ten mile radius can see the build up you two have. I haven’t seen you wound up like this about a guy… maybe ever,” she explained, a small smile brewing on her face. “Plus, we have all noticed that he is not  _ unattractive _ ,” she added with a smirk, waggling her eyebrows while Betty covered her face in embarrassment. “What is holding you back?”

“You’re right, I don’t think I have ever felt like this about a guy. I really, really like him... but you’ve got to remember that I don’t have a  _ huge  _ wealth of dating experience,” Betty mumbled, painfully aware that the number of past dates she had been on could be counted on one hand. In this area, Betty still felt like a teenager, finding her feet. “I have no idea what I’m doing,” she said quietly, with a gentle shrug of her shoulders.

“Well then, let me be your advisor,” Veronica said, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the countertop. “Go for it,” she said simply, a whisper of a smile lingering on her lips.

“And say what?” Betty sighed.

“Whatever you want, whatever you  _ feel _ ,” she said, with a wistful sigh. “Just tell him everything. In whatever way you think it right! It sounds like you two are pretty much on the same wavelength… so what could it hurt to say it all aloud?” Betty knew that, deep down, Veronica was a romantic: this is what she yearned for, the longing and passionate confessions of love. No matter how many short-lived relationships or casual hookups she indulged in, she always looked a little too long at the red roses in the market, teared up far too readily at their occasional rom com movie nights. She wanted the real deal, but she didn’t quite have the right taste in guys to match.

“But hey, if words aren’t your medium - why not just use actions?” Veronica said, shaking herself out of her dreamy trance whilst Betty’s stomach twisted into knots - the idea of making the first move instilling a level of nerves in her that she didn’t know existed. “Gosh, Betty. I can practically hear you overthinking. It doesn’t have to be complicated, okay? A kiss can just be a kiss,” she said with a light-hearted laugh.

“But, it isn’t just a kiss, right?” Betty sighed wearily. “It’s a catalyst. Something is going to happen afterwards, I just don’t know what… and it’s the not knowing that’s terrifying,” she added, quieter. It was a niggling feeling that had been eating away at her for a while: the what ifs, the doubts. Part of Betty would never be able to believe that anyone could see her that way, so being convinced that Jughead actually liked her was a difficult process. She  _ knew  _ he flirted with her - what, with the compliments and the looks that lasted just a little longer than friends look at each other - but it didn’t stop her doubting it all when she shut off the lights in her bedroom and she was alone. In the dark, in the early hours of the morning, she had been left to fight off the fears that she hadn’t completely imagined it all. “I mean, what if he doesn’t really like me like that?”

“Oh B,” Veronica sighed, pushing herself off her stool and grabbing their dishes. “You know I love you, but you can be infuriatingly oblivious when it comes to this sort of thing,” she admitted as she dumped the plates into the sink.

“Excuse me?” Betty followed her, pushing herself up to sit on the countertop so she could properly concentrate on whatever explanation her friend was about to offer.

“Do you remember that guy who was in one of your classes in freshman year? He was kind of cute looking, in that fresh-faced, small-town kind of way...” Veronica explained as she rolled up her sleeves and began to fill the sink with soapy water. Betty almost let out chuckle, remembering fondly how before they lived together, Veronica Lodge had never washed a dish in her life - and then, for the first time in her life, she was without a butler to follow her around or her doting parents to clean up all her messes. It seemed like a long time ago.

“You mean Trev?”

“Of course, Trev! He used to hang around you like a bad smell, always asking you for help on assignments, texting you all the time, looking at you with a huge, doe-eyed wistfulness… He was completely obsessed with you.”

“Nooo, we were friends!” Betty scoffed, her forehead creasing as she thought about it. There was a period where her and Trev had been close during the first year but, to her memory, it had never been anything more than a friendly exchange.

“ _ You _ were friends,  _ he _ was interested. Honestly, he looked like a little lovesick puppy whenever he was around you, but you were completely blind to it. And it’s not your fault; because I’m pretty sure that deep down, you’re convinced that no guy will ever want you unless you meet your mother’s impossible standards of perfection…” Veronica trailed off, before a soft smile returned to her lips. “But you’re wrong. And if I thought Trev was obsessed with you... then, wow, Jughead is a goner. He  _ likes  _ you, Betty. He likes you  _ bad _ . I am 100% certain.”

“How could you possibly know that?”

“You mean apart from the longing looks, the constant texting, the fact that he left the party to hang out with you alone?” Veronica asked sarcastically. “Well, Kevin and Cheryl may have divulged a few of their observations to me,” she added with a smirk. “We have reached a consensus, you two are so gone for each other it’s sickening. So hurry up and fall in love already.” 

Betty let out a quiet laugh, her fingers curling over the edges of the counter. “If you could loan me some of your confidence and natural charm, that would be great.”

“Hey, it’s worked so far without it,” she chuckled as she placed a dish in the rack on the other side of the sink. “Be yourself, Jughead’s into it,” she added with a wink. 

Betty tried to suppress the blush that she could feel resurfacing and slowly spreading across her face. “Okay, okay, you’ve made your point! Please can we talk about literally anything else now?” she said with a laugh, pressing her hands to her face. 

“Fine, I think I have presented you a reasonable enough argument, I hope that you will thoroughly consider my findings,” she said matter-of factly, removing her hands from the water and wiping them on a towel. 

“You presented an excellent defence, I will take it under advisement,” Betty giggled. “Pre-law was definitely the right major for you.

\--

Veronica left the apartment about an hour later, after the kind of thoroughly gossip-filled, light-hearted, lazy sunday morning that hadn’t happened between them in a while. It felt nice to reconnect and reassure Betty that their friendship was the same as it had always been.

After heading into the shower, she indulged in a solid thirty minutes standing under the water: enjoying the way the warm water soothed her tired muscles; taking extra care washing her hair in all the ways she didn’t usually have the time for and to just have thirty minutes to clear her mind of  _ everything _ … She wallowed in it until her fingers crinkled, soaking up every second of that brief, though much needed, escape. 

And when she stepped out onto the mat on the bathroom floor, she was forced back into reality again. A reality where she had deadlines and assignments and 100 other things on her mind. But that reality felt a little lighter, a little fresher, than it did when she woke up. 

In her bedroom, she pulled on a pair of comfy grey leggings and a baggy sweater - accepting the fact that she probably wasn’t leaving the house today - and ran the brush through her hair, deciding to let it dry out naturally. 

Betty had figured it was a little strange that Cheryl still wasn’t back and she hadn’t called or anything but it was only when she reached for her nightstand to grab her phone that she realised it wasn’t there… and it wasn’t on her dresser, nor had it been lost in the sheets of her bed. She frowned, strolling out into the hall and then into the living room. She whined for a moment when she saw all the empty bottles scattered around, momentarily cursing herself for fooling herself into hoping that someone else might have cleaned it up, before starting to gather them with a sigh. After a few minutes of clearing away the beer bottles and the single (and shockingly near to empty) tequila bottle, Betty started turning over the pillows in search of her phone. She finally found it underneath the couch, figuring it must have fallen off the side or something and was unsurprised to find that it was dead. She  _ seriously _ debated just crawling back to her room, but ultimately pushed herself off the floor with a heavy sigh. 

She clambered into the center of her bed once she’d plugged her phone in, and sank back into the pillows, letting her eyes flutter shut for a few seconds. It would be so easy to crawl under the covers and sleep it off for just a couple more hours… but she sat up with a heavy sigh. It was already gone noon, she knew it was time to kick herself back into gear. So, she pulled her laptop into her lap and opened up her emails, scrolling through the first few messages while she waited for her phone to load. 

The messages slowly started filtering through: a few of drunk texts from Veronica and Kevin that Betty hadn’t had a chance to look at the night before. There was an apology text from Josie for being ‘a drunken nightmare’ and a promise to catch up again soon. Also, a text from Cheryl explaining that she’d be out for the next couple of hours while she ran some errands with some photos attached of the night before - Betty let out a laugh at the one of Cheryl lying in her bed sandwiched between a sleeping Veronica and Kevin drooling on her pillow, looking at the camera with a deadpan expression. The last thing that popped up was a photo of a very grumpy-looking Jughead with deep purple circles under his eyes, clad in his work uniform and holding a coffee cup that was at least the length of his face. 

**J: I hate all of my coworkers.**

Betty breathed a laugh at the message, sent about half an hour ago, before quickly typing out a reply. 

**B: I thought you weren’t supposed to be working this weekend.**

She had barely time to open up her word doc before the phone chimed again. She froze, her fingers hovering over the keyboard of her laptop, yet to press a single key, as she sneaked a glance at the phone. Still frozen in place, she bit down on her bottom lip, mentally battling with herself. 

( Don’t pick it up. You have work to do. ) she thought to herself, moments before she reached out and snatched up the phone. She couldn’t imagine what her mother would say if she witnessed Betty employ so little self control. Probably something obnoxious.

**J: I wasn’t. What a coincidence that so many people called in ‘sick’ the morning after halloween. So, since my manager called me 3 hours ago, I’ve been plotting my revenge on every single one of them...**

**B: Please share your revenge plots, I’m intrigued**

**J: Idk, probably just spit in their coffee or something. My brain hurts too much to work properly right now**

After quickly looking at the text, she let out a quiet laugh and typed out her reply -  **_It’s possible that the tequila was a bad idea_ ** \- and then placed her phone in the top draw of her nightstand and pushed the draw shut. She had never really struggled with distractions, now was not the time to start. She took a deep sigh, before turning her attention back to the chunk of text on the screen in front of her. She’d prioritised schoolwork over guys countless times, she could do it again. 

It was a slow start, reading and lazily editing what she already had with a less than enthused attitude, but eventually Betty managed to get herself into a rhythm, her fingers flying across the keyboard as she typed out paragraph after paragraph, finally feeling her head begin to clear. A smile crossed her face when she looked at the word count and realised that she had written a good portion of her essay. She crawled off the bed, grabbing a textbook from her bookcase before falling back into her seat and ploughing onwards. Once she finished that essay, she moved onto the next task on her to-do list with a triumphant smile. 

Somewhere in between the bathroom breaks and pauses for food, Betty realised that she’d managed to complete more than she had been hoping. She fell back into the pillows of her bed with a heavy sigh: suddenly exhausted. She smiled softly when Caramel, who had been sitting at the foot of the bed in a strop about the lack of attention all afternoon, climbed into her lap. Betty absentmindedly combed her fingers through her fur, whilst she let her eyes drift shut, for just a moment. 

She slept all night, dreaming of combing her fingers through familiar back curls.

\-- 

Jughead checked his phone one last time before he stepped out into the cold to start his walk home. He hadn’t really been expecting a reply at this point, but he was still kind of hoping for something. It made him feel a little bit clingy, and a hell of a lot pathetic but every chance he’d got, between serving customers or pouring out a coffee, he’d kept checking his phone under the counter - earning a few glares once his manager noticed, but it didn’t deter him. Today had probably been the worst shift he’d ever done (definitely more to do with the hangover than the workflow but even so), and he probably could have done with something to keep him going. 

He could only remember fragments of the night before - little pieces had been coming back to him as the day had pressed on. He’d almost dropped a full coffee pot at one particular revelation: the memory of Betty’s face inches from his own, slowly edging closer. He couldn’t remember what happened after that - he was gonna kick himself so hard if he had finally kissed Betty and couldn’t fucking remember it. He couldn’t stop thinking about it all day. 

Jughead shook his head to try and shake the thought away, and took a long breath in of the crisp autumn air. He knew he was getting in his own way by thinking too hard about it. Betty hadn’t texted him back - so what? It was one day! She was probably busy and if he had spent the day working, instead of checking his phone constantly, he would have been too. There was no need to panic. He wasn’t so obsessed with her that he couldn’t survive one day. 

When he walked into the apartment, the first thing he saw was Archie: passed out on the couch in the same clothes he’d been wearing the night before and drooling on one of the cushions. Jughead laughed quietly as he kicked the foot dangling off the edge whilst he was walking past, effectively jolting him awake.

“Wake up, sleepyhead,” he chuckled, throwing his bag down on the floor and slumping into a chair beside the couch. 

“Screw you,” Archie murmured, his voice thick with sleep, as he sat up straight and ran a hand over his face, his hair sticking out at all angles.

“On a scale of 1 to the neighbours are going to hate us forever, how concerned do I need to be about the state of the roof right now?” Jughead asked, pulling off his hat and throwing it on the cluttered coffee table in front of him. He was fully anticipating that in about ten minutes the two of them would be on the roof with trash bags, wading through the leftover wreckage of last-night’s party.

“Zero,” Archie declared as he stood up and stretched his limbs, stirring a frown on Jughead’s face. 

“Bullshit.”

“I’m serious, I spent all afternoon cleaning up. It took for-fucking-ever, but it is clean, I swear,” Archie said, falling back onto the couch, slumped heavily against the cushions. “I was thorough too. It might even be cleaner up there than before we had the party,” he chuckled.

Jughead eyed him suspiciously, wondering if someone had body-swapped his roommate, who had not cleaned a damn thing since they moved in together (or more realistically, ever). “All by yourself?”

“All by myself,” he repeated back, a proud grin crossing his face. 

“Dude, are you okay? Should I be worried?” Jughead asked, feigning seriousness as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. 

“Shut up,” Archie laughed, pushing Jughead’s face away from him. Jughead breathed a small laugh too, leaning back in the chair and stretching his aching legs out in front of him.

“Okay, what gives then?” he asked, in all seriousness.

“Nothing,” Archie shrugged. “Why is this so damn surprising?” he asked defensively, throwing his hands up beside him.

“Because it is inconsistent with everything I know about you. What’s going on?” Jughead asked again, deciding to not let up until he got some sort of coherent answer out of him. 

“Just wanted to clean up my own mess for once, okay?” Archie muttered quietly, his tone a little sharper than before. He pushed himself off the sofa with a quick sigh, not meeting Jughead’s eye as he did so. “I’m going to bed, see you in the morning,” he said abruptly, walking across the room and disappearing down the hallway towards his room. 

Jughead sighed as he heard the bedroom door click shut, feeling like he’d touched a nerve. He ran a hand through his hair, wondering how the hell he was supposed to respond to that display - mostly because it was a first. Archie had his moments, sure, but he usually wore his heart on his sleeve and was very clear about was going on with him… the elusive, broody crap was usually reserved Jughead. With this new role reversal, he had no idea what he was supposed to do.

The growl in his stomach interrupted his thoughts, luring him towards the kitchen - he hoped that Archie would appreciate time to cool off and hadn’t been fishing for any sort of intervention from Jughead. Worst comes to worst, they’d talk about it in the morning. 

Jughead focused on the new crisis at hand - his face scrunching into a scowl as he looked over his options in the refrigerator - a singular egg, some dry and measly looking vegetables, a practically empty milk carton and a few boxed ready meals. Jughead sighed, grabbing the top one, knowing they would probably all taste equally like cardboard and began unwrapping it. Jughead knew that between them, one of them was going to have to learn to cook one of these days because he couldn’t live on this crap and takeout forever. 

Once it had cooked, Jughead strolled back to the living room and slouched into his seat again. He noticed Archie’s laptop on the coffee table and pulled it towards him, figuring he could find something to watch on netflix while he ate, too lazy to venture to his room to find his own computer. When he opened it, he was surprised to see that Archie had been looking at job listings; not the usual stuff like gigs or open mic nights - actual, paying jobs in bars and restaurants and stores. Jughead’s brow creased as his eyes scanned the page, taking it all in, as well as the not-half-bad resume he’d started writing. 

It was not, by no means, a bad surprise - it meant that Archie might  _ actually _ be able to pay his half of the rent at some point in the near future, without sponging off Fred for the thousandth time - but Jughead was just a little confused where it was all coming from. He was shutting the laptop, to avert his prying eyes and to prevent him wanting to snoop any further, when he noticed that Cheryl’s facebook page was open too. He closed the computer with a sad smile, grabbing his food and deciding to eat in his room after all.  

When he eventually rolled into bed, he fell asleep moments after his head hit the pillow, despite it still being early. It had been a long weekend.

 

\-- 

 

Betty hadn’t meant to start avoiding Jughead, but the early weeks of November had been busy. All late-nights with her laptop and long-shifts at work - covering for her co-worker who had been off sick for a while… When she had a few hours spare time, it was usually spent in bed, napping because she was perpetually exhausted. Once she added all that up with classes at school, eating and sleeping, there hadn’t been any room left for Jughead.

At first she thought that maybe that was okay. She needed to concentrate on college, and Jughead had always proved a distraction - a wonderful one, but distracting nonetheless. Plus, Betty was still left reeling from the events of Halloween… She thought that maybe a little space to work out her feelings was exactly what she needed; until it wasn’t. It got lonely really fast. 

She asked herself how it was happening, it should have been nearly impossible: they lived in the same building, he worked a few blocks from her, and some days they had classes mere rooms away from each other, minutes apart. It should have been pretty hard to avoid each other for nearly three whole weeks.

Sometimes, things lined up perfectly and she’d bump into him in the lobby or outside class, or even on the way to work. But most days, they’d be headed in opposite directions and a passing ‘hey!’ and a smile had to do. It felt like their interactions were in fast forward, lasting a fraction of what she was used to. 

To an outsider, it might have seemed like that was it - like they were drifting apart, a line drawn under their friendship (with a hint of something more). But even after a few days, Betty missed talking to him and so she sought a way to keep the lines of communication open. I wasn’t the same, but it was something.

**B: I haven’t seen you in a thousand years! How are you doing stranger?**

**J: Wasting away, school is killing me.**

**B: You have no idea.**

**J: Call me after work, I’ll lend an ear for you to complain about life to :)**

\--

**J: I’ve had so much coffee I’m about to start ricocheting off the walls, sorry if the noise disturbs you downstairs**

**B: Why the hell are you drinking coffee at 1 in the morning?!**

**J: Why do you think? I left an essay until the last minute... again.**

**J: Why the hell are YOU awake at 1 in the morning?**

**B: None of your business.**

**J: You’re doing last minute work too.**

**B: Maybe.**

\-- 

**J: I’m shell-shocked. Archie got a job - he’s starting as a hotel valet next week.**

**B: I don’t believe you.**

**J: Honestly! It has a paycheck and everything**

**B: Amazing! Tell him congrats from me... What inspired the change?**

**J: He’s been on some weird ‘make a better Archie Andrews’ program the last couple of weeks. He keeps buying groceries - it’s weirding me out to open the fridge and see actual food.**

**B: Two grown men cooking their own food… Madness!**

**J: Don’t be ridiculous, Betts. You know I can’t cook.**

\--

**J: Could you read over a paper for me?**

**B: Sure, send me a link. When do you need it done by?**

\--

**Betty sent a photo.**

**B: Caramel’s sitting on my purse. Guess I’ll have to skip work today. Sigh, such a shame!**

**J: Can Caramel come sit on my purse too? I’d love an excuse not to go to work later.**

**B: No, but she might be able to pee in your shoes. Which she already did to me this week. Twice.**

**B: I think she’s protesting about how busy I’ve been recently. History shows she doesn’t do well with declines in attention.**

**J: Nah, Caramel’s just acting out because she misses me.**

**B: That must be it...**

 

Whenever, she had a spare moment, Betty was pulling out her phone and clicking on their message thread. She might have been embarrassed if she didn’t now for a fact that Jughead was doing exactly the same thing - his replies often came seconds after she’d hit the send button, making her grin so hard she worried her face would split. They managed to squeeze in a phone conversation in every so often too - hearing his voice gave her a much needed breath of relief in a way she couldn’t quite explain. Simply put, their conversations were keeping her sane in that ludicrously busy period.

Thankfully, she was nearing the end of her workload - she hoped she would be able to get those last few things checked off before herself and Cheryl had to head out of town for thanksgiving. Unfortunately, that particular trip home was not something either of them were looking forward to. 

After Cheryl had confessed to her that she was scared to see her mother, Betty had agreed that she shouldn’t go alone. Cheryl had never been easy to intimidate, but Penelope Blossom had always been good at getting in her head, twisting and taunting. Admittedly, Betty’s first suggestion had been that Cheryl should blow off her mother and just come and eat with the Coopers, but she hadn’t managed to be persuasive enough. At the end of the day, a small corner of Cheryl’s heart still held love for her Mom, despite all the torture she was subjected to - and once Nana Rose had passed, the two of them were the only immediate family they each had left. It meant something to Cheryl, whether she admitted it or not. So they had agreed that they would start the drive home the day before Thanksgiving and have dinner with Penelope that evening. They were planning to stay the night at the Cooper family home, ready to spend the day with Polly, who would be arriving in the morning, and their Mom. And, per Polly’s demands, Caramel would be coming along too. 

Post phone call with her mother, Betty had slumped onto the couch, covering her hands with her face and letting out a long groan. For thirty minutes of a forty minute conversation, her Mom had done nothing but complain about her Dad’s plans for Thanksgiving with his new girlfriend.

_ “I can’t believe that bastard traded out  _ **_me_ ** _ for  _ **_her_ ** _. She’s a hundred years old!” The phone did little to mask her Mom’s screeches - as per usual. _

_ “She is three years older than him, Mom. And she’s actually kind of nice” Betty had grumbled with a deflated sigh, it not being the first time she had listened to this particular rant, nor would it be the last. “And you’ve been saying for years that the divorce was for the best, why are you letting it get to you?” _

_“Your father’s happiness irks me,” she had said bitterly, whilst Betty rolled her eyes_ _and almost dared to laugh at her mom’s pettiness._

Betty pulled out her phone, her fingers drumming the screen angrily as she typed.  **B: Pray for me, I don’t know whether I’m going to survive this goddamn holiday.**

Betty grabbed the remote, switching on the TV and flicking through the channels with distaste for most of the options, until her phone buzzed in her pocket after a few minutes.

**J: Well, it was nice knowing you Cooper. Give my condolences to Cheryl and Caramel.**

**B: Shut up.** She had typed, biting back a grin at his ridiculous sarcastic humour - already forgetting she was supposed to be in a bad mood.  **B: Are you and Archie going back to Riverdale?**

**J: Just me, Archie’s spending Thanksgiving with his Mom - we’ll get our holiday with the ‘new and improved’ Andrews at Christmas.**

Betty breathed a laugh - Jughead continued to be bewildered at Archie’s sudden character development, apparently yet to get any answers about what spurred it on. She bit down on her lip and typed out a message, her thumb hovering over the send button for a moment as she hesitated. 

**B: Are you going to see your dad?**

She stared at the screen, long, slow seconds passing as she waited for the little typing bubble to appear. She didn’t know much about his dad - just that he had been in prison for a long time now - and so she wasn’t sure how sensitive a topic it was. She let out a heavy breath when Jughead started typing. 

**J: Me and Fred usually go together. I’m looking forward to it, it’s been a while since I saw him.**

**J: Speaking of people I haven’t seen in a while… can we hang out once you’re back in town?**

Betty felt a blush spread on her cheeks - it was nice to be reassured that he might miss her as much as she missed him. It had been a long few weeks, and there was only so much texting could do. 

**B: Definitely.**

 

\--

Betty let her head fall against the wall of the elevator, exhausted. She had finally managed to finish all her work, pulling a long stint at the library after her last lecture before Thanksgiving break. It was worth it, because now she had the extra mental capacity she needed to survive the classic Cooper, and now Blossom, drama she’d inevitably have to deal with over the next few days. But for the moment, all she wanted to do was fall into bed and sleep for the next twelve hours, maybe have a lie in for the first time in three weeks since they weren’t due to leave until the afternoon. 

She’d heard her phone chime in her bag a few times on the walk home - most likely signalling new messages from Jughead - but she’d been too tired to remove her hands from her pockets and subject them to the biting cold of November air. Now, she wasn’t sure she’d have the energy to be able to drag her body from the elevator to the front door, so she decided to just check it once she was safely snuggled up in bed. 

When the elevator dinged and the doors slid open, Betty frowned at the revelation that it was not as silent as it should be: there was loud music seeping through the walls and disturbing the peace. She took a few cautious steps forward into the hall before something clicked in her brain and she halted, her eyes flitting shut. 

“Please, do not let this be Cheryl throwing a party,” she whispered to herself under her breath, inhaling deeply through her nose.

She opened her eyes and took a further few steps towards the apartment. She stopped and groaned when she heard a cheer from a group of people  _ definitely _ standing behind their door. Slumping against the wall for a second, she wondered what the hell she was supposed to do about this. All plans she had to slip into bed and fall soundlessly asleep had been shredded to pieces. She supposed she could still lock herself in her room and wait for the chaos to end, but after glancing at her watch she lost hope for that plan - it was still pretty early, there was a chance it could drag on for hours longer.

The more time she spent standing there against the wall, music pounding through and seeping into bloodstream, the angrier she got. There was no question that Cheryl knew how tired her cousin had been, she had taken the time to comment on it on numerous occasions. Betty had specifically spelled out her plans for the evening to her - including how excited she was to finally get a proper night’s sleep. It surely must have been clear to her that a stunt like this would disrupt those plans. Years ago, Betty might not be so shocked by a dick move from Cheryl, but she had thought that those days were behind them. 

Betty’s jaw clenched as she pushed herself off the wall and stormed over to the door, pushing it open with boiling blood. A number of heads turned her way, unsurprisingly most of them belonging to strangers, and none of them Cheryl. Betty forcefully shut the door behind her, not that it made much of an impact against the volume of the party.

After pushing through the hallway, Betty stumbled into her bedroom and breathed a sigh a relief as she found it unoccupied - other than a very unaffected Caramel, happily snoozing in the centre of the comforter. Shutting the door behind her, Betty slumped onto the end of the bed and gently pulled Caramel into her lap, silencing her quiet yowls of protest by stroking her behind the ears just how she liked. It was easy for the anger to melt away for the the briefest of moments, absorbed by Caramel’s soft fur in Betty’s fingers, the noise of the party muffled slightly by her soft purrs. But then the chatter roared up again, shattering the brief moment of peace and stirring Betty’s rage. She carefully deposited a reluctant Caramel back on the bed and headed to go find Cheryl.

Brushing past the people lingering in the hall, she managed to force herself through the crammed doorway and began to look around at the assortment of strangers standing in her living room. There happened to be a handful of more familiar faces, but no one who Betty could definitively name - she wondered whether Cheryl would be able to either. Finally she spotted that unmistakable flash of red hair tucked into the corner of the room, hidden by the crowd of people between them. As Betty got nearer, pushing through the sweaty people (dancing, chatting and probably spilling things on her carpet), she realised that Cheryl was not alone, but instead was making out with some girl she had never seen before. She briefly paused to roll her eyes before crossing the last stretch to Cheryl’s side.

“Cher,” Betty said, her voice straining to be heard over the music - to no avail as the two of them continued to attack each other with their lips. “Cheryl!” she repeated, her tone harsher and angrier, effectively jarring them into tearing away from each other and glance in her direction. “What the hell is this?” Betty yelled, waving a hand to gesture at the rest of the apartment, or more specifically the people in it. 

“A party,” Cheryl quipped with a raised eyebrow and a smirk in place of her slightly smudged lipstick, before she tried turning back to the girl and leaning in again. But Betty clenched her jaw and grabbed Cheryl’s arm, pulling her away. She held on long enough for Cheryl to steady herself in the unnecessarily high heels she was wearing - close enough to smell the lingering alcohol on her breath. 

“What the fuck are you doing?” Cheryl spat as she tore her arm out of Betty’s grip, her speech slurring slightly. “I’m just trying to have a little fun,” she said sullenly, lightly rubbing the skin on her arm where Betty’s hand had been.

“Why did you do this, Cher? You know how exhausted I am! I need  _ sleep _ !” Betty pleaded, taking one of her hands in both of her own. “Please, clear these people out of here.”

“No! I’m having fun,” Cheryl pouted, shaking her head exaggeratedly. “You stay and have some fun too, B!” she shouted with a grin, before slinging her arm around Betty’s shoulder. “Sleep can come later!”

“No!” Betty yelled, the anger bubbling up again as Cheryl refused to hear her. She pulled her arm off her, turning to look at her. “Cher, I am begging you. We have a long couple of days, we both need  _ rest _ .”

“Oh come on,  _ Elizabeth _ ,” she drawled, mockingly. “Always work, no play! Grab a drink and loosen up for once” she said, shaking her shoulders with a teasing smirk painted on her lips. “Maybe if you were a little more exciting, Jughead wouldn’t have lost interest so quickly,” she said, grabbing her drink from a table and taking a swig with raised eyebrows, but with mischief dancing behind her eyes.  

Betty stood, watching her in her in stunned silence. It wasn’t that she’d brought up Jughead - Cheryl had been just as busy as everyone else recently, too busy to notice Betty sneaking texts to Jughead in between paragraphs, too exhausted with all the Archie drama to gossip with Betty about her boy problems. No, she wasn’t hurt that she had assumed they had drifted apart, it barey phased her. She was shocked because it was a side of Cheryl that Betty hadn’t seen since high school, a side that she wasn’t sure existed anymore before tonight - that malicious side of her made biting comments and got kicks out of making people miserable. It made her heart sink a little.

“Goodnight, Cheryl,” Betty said quietly, her whisper probably inaudible above the noise. It didn’t matter though, because that momentary flash of guilt in her eyes indicated that she got the message. She opened her mouth to speak but Betty didn’t wait to hear whatever it was she had to say next. She turned around and walked out of the apartment, closing the door behind her and leaning it against it for a moment, willing her eyes to stay dry. 

\-- 

Jughead sighed, shutting his laptop and looking over at Archie, who was mirroring his irritated expression. He didn’t say anything, just shrugged in return as he strummed lazily on his guitar - unfortunately it did nothing to drown out the noise pounding through the floorboards from downstairs. Jughead leaned back in the chair with a sigh and stared up the ceiling, eyes skimming over the various marks and water stains littered there and waited for the chaos to pass.

They’d deduced that the noise was coming from Betty and Cheryl’s apartment and thus they - or more accurately Archie - would probably not be welcome, not that Jughead had any desire to venture down there anyway. He had wondered whether Betty was there or not - she had mentioned that she’d be doing a late-night library session tonight to try and finish some things up, but she hadn’t messaged him back in a while so he had no idea what she was doing. He had pulled out his phone and sent her a quick heads up that Cheryl was throwing a party, just in case she was in for an awful surprise.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jughead noticed Archie scribble something down on a piece of paper, before going back to his guitar with an intense look of concentration. “What you doing?” he asked. 

Archie looked up, a mildly surprised expression on his face. “Oh, I’m, uh... I’m trying to write a song,” he explained, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. 

A slight smile appeared on Jughead’s face. “You haven’t done that in a long time,” he said. 

“Yeah. I guess I haven’t had much to write about recently. And, The covers always did better in performance, so…” 

“So you stopped writing them,” Jughead finished his train of thought with a small nod. “What changed?”

“I guess I found some inspiration,” he shrugged before turning back to his guitar, whilst Jughead smiled. Whatever Archie was going through seemed to be doing him so good, so it was okay if he didn’t want to talk about - as long it stayed positive. 

“Do you wanna order a pizza or something?” Jughead asked when his stomach grumbled, already venturing out of his seat to find a menu. 

“Dude, there’s stuff in the fridge,” Archie replied, not bothering to look up at him whilst Jughead scoffed and narrowed his eyes at him in return.

“The chicken that smells iffy, and the lettuce that is definitely not a healthy colour, will not taste as good as melted cheese and pepperoni,” Jughead declared, already punching in the number. “Do you want in?” he asked with raised eyebrows, thumb hovering over the call button. 

“Yeah, okay.” 

\--

Both their heads snapped up when there was a knock at the door. 

“Is that the pizza already? You only called them like ten minutes ago,” Archie muttered, glancing at the clock on the opposite wall.

“Could answer the door and find out instead of asking dumb questions,” Jughead grumbled under his breath, quickly grabbing his beanie off the coffee table as he stood up from his chair. He yelped when a leg darted out and into his shin as he walked by the couch, stirring a laugh in Archie and a string of muttered curses in Jughead. 

“Answer the door, Juggie,” Archie said sweetly whilst Jughead turned to glare at him, pulling on his hat. 

Jughead’s expression softened when he opened the door, surprised to see Betty standing on the doormat. This was the first time in three weeks that he’d  _ properly  _ seen her - not just a fleeting moment as they passed in the hall or on the sidewalk - and so it took him a moment to adjust to the fact that something was clearly wrong. She looked exhausted: with dark circles under her eyes to rival his own; her hair slung into a loose, low bun as opposed to her usual pinned ponytail and wide, watery green eyes - looking like the floodgates were threatening to break. 

“Hey,” he said softly when she didn’t speak first, his brow furrowing slightly with concern as his eyes continued to scan her face - searching for an explanation in her eyes.

“Hi,” she whispered, forcing a smile. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know where else to go,” she said quietly, swiping furiously as a single tear crept out the corner of her eye. “I left my phone in the apartment and I didn’t want to go back…” she added hoarsely.

“Is everything okay, Betty?” he asked gingerly, still hovering awkwardly in the doorway. His caution seemed appropriate, because something in her seemed to crumble once those words left his lips. She opened her mouth as if she was going to speak, but instead let out a choked sob, immediately covering her face with her hands to hide herself.

It felt like Jughead spent an eternity standing in front of her, silently wrestling with himself over what to do - but really, it was seconds before he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. He didn’t say anything, just smiled slightly when her arms curled around him, and gently moved his hand across her shoulders as she quietly cried into his chest.

It wasn’t long before she pulled away, hastily wiping the edge of her sleeve under her eyes with an embarrassed laugh. “Oh god, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have just showed up here and started crying on you… I’m just over-tired and over-stressed and then I came home and there were all these people in my apartment and then-”

Jughead laughed quietly, reaching out and placing a hand on her arm to silence her ramblings. “Betty, it’s okay,” he assured, offering her a small smile. “It’s okay,” he repeated softly, his hand gently running up and down her arm.

Betty took a deep breath in through her nose as she nodded slowly and her eyebrows knitted together, probably trying to calm herself down. He smiled as she stepped towards him again, wrapping her arms around his torso in another hug. She sighed wearily as she buried her face into his shirt, and without thinking Jughead dropped a kiss to the top of her head. He tended to do unconscious things like that around her - those sorts of affections and compliments just seemed to happen naturally with her and then his brain caught up and made him think about it later. He never really regretted it though.

The bubble was kind of broken when Archie yelled from inside the apartment. “HEY JUG! Are you gonna invite Betty in or are you going to make her stand on the doorstep forever?!” Betty laughed quietly into his chest whilst Jughead rolled his eyes.

“Well?” she asked with an eyebrow raised teasingly, leaning back so she could see his face but not bothering to untangle her arms from him.

“Betty, would you like to come in?” Jughead asked, his words dripping with sarcasm as he unwilling pulled away and pushed the door wide open for her.

“Oh, it’s so nice of you to ask,” Betty giggled, sauntering past him as Jughead shook his head with his own quiet breath of laughter. “Hey Archie, it’s been a while” Betty said with a friendly smile as Jughead strolled to stand by her side, trying to find a subtle way of studying her face and probably (definitely) failing. If her eyes weren’t ever so slightly rimmed red, some unspilled tears still lingering around the edges, there wouldn’t be a trace that Betty was anything but bubbling with happiness - it baffled him how she could just switch it on like that, just pour with sunshine in five seconds flat. 

“Yeah, it has! It’s good to see you,” he nodded, still mindlessly strumming on the guitar in his hands. Jughead wasn’t sure how much he had heard of their conversation in the doorway, if anything. - but he didn’t give anything away on his face, continuing to smile at Betty.

“Jug mentioned you got a job, how’s that going?” she asked politely, probably not anticipating the full-on monologue that it set off in him - earning another eye roll from Jughead, who had heard this speech many times by now. 

At some point while Archie was rambling on about life as valet in far too much detail, including enthusiastically reporting on the ‘fucking insane tips’ (his words), Betty glanced up at Jughead and caught his gaze on her. He didn’t bother looking away or pretending that he hadn’t been staring at her, because he hadn’t seen her for three fucking weeks and he needed to soak it up before she left for Thanksgiving - so instead he just offered her a lazy grin. His grin widened with the small swell of pride he got when a blush slowly started to spread across her cheeks. 

“Anyway!” Archie semi-yelled, causing both their heads to snap towards him in surprise. “I would offer to leave you guys alone so you can eye-fuck in peace...  _ but _ I’m not going anywhere until I get my pizza,” Archie declared with a smug grin. Betty breathed a laugh - the colouring on her cheeks now rushing into scarlet - whilst Jughead shot daggers in his direction, silently screaming at him whilst he just chuckled in return. 

“Is it okay if I hang out here for a while?” Betty asked, glancing between the two of them. “Cheryl decided to throw a party,” she explained simply.

“We can hear,” Jughead grumbled with an eye roll, gesturing to the floorboards, where noises from the party down-below were still creeping through. “Of course you can stay here,” he added with a smile. 

“Yeah, come sit down,” Archie chimed in, patting the seat on the couch beside him. 

“Thank you,” Betty said as she obliged, leaning back into the cushions with a heavy sigh - internally just ready to curl up and sleep, but externally still sporting that charming Cooper smile like all in the world was right. Jughead followed and slumped in the chair beside her end of the couch. 

“She was also kind of a bitch to me,” Betty said wearily, not bothering to specify who ‘she’ was - they all knew. Betty was well aware that she could have moved the conversation along to something else - but there was an ache lingering in her chest. She was almost surprised by how affected she was by one snide comment from the girl that had tormented her every other day in high school. She forgot sometimes that that was the same girl that she lived with and loved so fondly now. 

“I’ve had a similar experience on many occasions,” Jughead said with a humourless chuckle. “I’m sorry Betty, that’s rough,” he added, with a sympathetic smile. 

“Thanks, Jug,” she said softly, not really sure how to respond otherwise. ‘Sorry’ would only really make her feel better if it came from Cheryl herself, but that was pretty unlikely in the near future.

She was sure she saw Jughead’s hand twitch like he was going to reach out to her, but before it did, he glanced up at Archie and it just stayed resting on the arm of the chair. 

When there was a knock on the door, he cleared his throat and stood up. “You know what’s great in times like this? Comfort food,” he announced with a chuckle. “And unless we have another surprise guest, that should be the pizza,” he explained, before heading towards door. 

Betty turned to Archie with a weak smile. “Thanks again for letting me hide-out here,” she murmured.

She hadn’t noticed how Archie’s brow had furrowed so deeply, tension etched into his skin as he kept his gaze fixed on the guitar. “You guys are going home for Thanksgiving, right?” he asked abruptly, his voice low. 

Betty gave a tight-lipped smile as she softly replied, “Yeah.”

“She’s going to see her mom?”

“I’m going with her,” Betty sighed, “but yeah.” It had occurred to her that the spontaneous party, the lashing out, was all in anticipation of seeing Penelope for the first time in a while. Since Cheryl moved away for college, they rarely spoke on the phone, sometimes not for months at a time, and Cheryl only really went home for the holidays, if at all. Whenever they did reconnect, it usually had an ugly affect on her - it seemed to rehash all the trauma she went through as a teenager - but Betty had never been in such close proximity to it before, never seen the full affect. 

Archie silently nodded his head in understanding, giving Betty a quick sympathetic smile. She wasn’t surprised he knew. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Cheryl had baggage - hers came in bucket loads - and if they had really been in a relationship, if Cheryl had really been  _ in love  _ with him, then there was a good chance she opened up to him. Which would have made it so much more painful for her when Archie broke things off. 

“I’m sorry,” he said simply. It wasn’t clear whether he was being sympathetic or whether there was greater meaning, but she didn’t have time to ask because Jughead slumped back into his seat, armed with two pizza boxes and three plates. It was okay, because it didn’t look to be a subject that Archie was particularly excited to talk about. Jughead seemed to catch onto Archie’s lowered mood because he shot Betty a questioning look, to which he just shook her head - it wasn’t her story to tell.

Archie didn’t disappear off to his room straight away, but it was okay because in spite of everything on her mind, Betty found herself relaxing for the first time in weeks. It was far too easy to fit in with the two of them - chatting and joking like she’d known them for years, smiling when Archie strummed the first rough draft of his song, throwing her head back with laughter when Archie and Jughead poked fun at each other… feeling Jughead’s eyes on her, heartbeat quickening when their hands briefly brushed together. She almost forgot about the earlier events of the night, about the havoc probably going on in her apartment. She almost forgot how tired she was.

“Okay, okay,” Archie chuckled, raising to his feet and grabbing his guitar. “I’m gonna go to bed and you should do the same because Betty looks like she’s about to pass out.”

“I’m fine,” Betty huffed, but her case wasn’t helped when she stifled a yawn, to which Archie raised his eyebrows. 

“I say this with love but you look fucking exhausted,” he said bluntly, accompanied with a charming smile. 

“Night Archie,” Betty chuckled, offering him a small wave from where she was tucked up in the corner of the sofa. 

“Yeah, goodnight. And hey, if I don’t see you again soon, happy Thanksgiving,” he said, surprising her by leaning down and giving her a quick one armed hug. 

“You too,” Betty smiled genuinely as he pulled away. “Goodnight,” she said again as he made his way down the hall. 

“Night Arch,” Jughead called after him. “Give me two seconds,” he said, turning towards her as he reached out to grab the pizza boxes and plates from the coffee table before standing up and darting into the kitchen. When he came back, instead of returning to the chair where he’d been sitting before, he slumped into the worn out couch cushions beside her - making her heart quicken a few paces inside her chest. Rolling his head along the back of the couch, he turned to look at her with that kind of warm, lazy smile that made her feel all gooey inside. He’d abandoned the beanie at some point in the evening, so his curls were running free and falling wherever they pleased. Betty’s fingers itched to grab her phone and snap a picture, because this was the kind of moment she wanted to remember. She probably would have too, if her phone wasn’t still buried in her bag in her room downstairs. 

“You okay?” Jughead asked, slightly wary - he was asking about earlier and the fact that she’d turned up at his door in tears. ( Oh, jeez. That’s hardly enticing, is it? )  she thought to herself, internally cringing as she remembered and wishing that she could that moment over. Or maybe not, because she had got a hug out of it… 

“Yeah, I’m feeling a lot better now,” she assured him softly.

“Are you sure? Because Archie’s right, you do look pretty tired,” he said with a teasing smirk, playfully poking her in the side. 

“I’m wide awake,” Betty said with a chuckle, biting back a smile as she poked him back. It wasn’t a complete lie: with Jughead sitting so close to her, casually touching her, all her senses were on high alert like electricity pulsing through her veins and jolting her awake. 

She propped her arm on the back of the couch, leaning her head against it so she was looking down at him as he laughed quietly. “I’ve missed you,” she said in a whisper. “Is that weird to say?”

“No,” he murmured with a soft smile, “I missed you too.” 

When he sat up straight in his seat, for a moment his face was just just inches away from hers and her breath unwittingly hitched while her mind flitted back to Halloween. They had been in a position just like this one, edging closer to each other on the couch. She had no idea if he even remembered. 

“It’s been pretty quiet down there for a while now…” Jughead muttered, glancing at the time on his phone. There had been audible cheers from he and Archie when the music had finally cut out about half an hour ago, with a heavy sigh of relief from Betty. She’d agreed to stay for a while longer in case the silence didn’t stick, but she hadn’t really been itching to leave yet either. 

“Hopefully that means the party’s over…” Betty murmured. 

“And you can go and get some rest,” Jughead said, his lips quirking briefly into a smile. 

“Yeah… Uh, well I guess I should go and see,” Betty said quietly, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip, secretly wishing he would give her a reason to stay just a little longer. Surely he must feel that same unspoken tension in the air, she had to hope that he didn’t want her leave either. She prayed that was why he hesitated before he spoke again, and why the smile didn’t quite reach the swirling storm of his eyes. 

“I guess so.” 

“Well, um…” Betty murmured as she stood up. “Thanks again for letting me hide away in your apartment,” she said with a half-hearted laugh. 

“Oh, no problem…” he said, rising to his feet as well and following her towards the door. “I’m glad that you came here.”

“Yeah, me too. I had a lot of fun with you guys…” she said genuinely. She had to admit, it had probably been exactly the kind of night she had needed after the three weeks of non-stop stress, despite the circumstances under which she ended up here there. 

“We still have plans for after Thanksgiving, right?” Jughead asked with a laugh as he unlocked the door and pulled it open, before leaning up against the doorframe as Betty made no move to step into the hallway. 

“Yeah, let me know when you get back and we can do something,” she nodded, brushing a loose hair away from her face. 

“Great. Have a good Thanksgiving,” he said, smiling. 

“You too!” 

“Goodnight, Betty,” he said, before pulling her in for another hug. After a brief moment of surprise, she curled her arms around him, her hands grabbing little fistfulls of his shirt behind his back as she breathed in that uniquely Jughead smell. She wasn’t sure, but as time ticked by she began to get an inkling that people who are just friends do not hug each other for this long. 

“Goodnight, Juggie,” she said softly as she finally pulled away and started walking away, an unknown sinking feeling in her chest. She didn’t look back, but when she reached the stairwell she was pretty sure that she hadn’t heard the door to the apartment close.

\-- 

It was quiet on her floor - hopefully a sign that her suspicions were correct and the party had finally drawn to a close at this early hour of the morning. Inside the apartment, there were a few stragglers passed out in the living room, but she didn’t have the energy to wake them up and make them leave so she just pulled the door closed and decided she would just lock her bedroom from the inside. She trudged into the kitchen, grimacing at the bottles and empty cups littered around, and the fact that the soles of her sneakers sort of stuck to the floor as she walked towards the refrigerator. She grabbed a bottle of water, unscrewing the cap and taking a sip as she headed back towards her room.

She didn’t bat an eyelid when there was a knock on the door, figuring that it was some lost drunken soul who hadn’t quite managed to stumble out the building. She rolled her eyes when they knocked again but nonetheless threw the bottle on her bed and shuffled out back into the hallway. What she wasn’t expecting to see was Jughead, standing in the doorway with a serious expression on his face. 

“Jughead…” she murmured in surprise. “What are you-”

“I forgot to tell you something,” he said, his gaze roaming over her over her face, settling on an area that seemed to be somewhere around her lips.

“What is it?” she said quietly, her stomach in knots as her focus flicked between his lips and his eyes. “Jug, what is it?” she repeated weakly when he didn’t reply, growing nervous under the heat of his stare

He didn’t say anything,just stepped towards her and gently placed a hand on her face as her breath hitched and her heart leapt into her throat. Then he pressed his lips against hers and her eyes fluttered closed. 

She didn't have the chance to relish in the moment, or even to respond because all too soon he pulled away. When she opened her eyes, Jughead was nibbling his lip, looking at her with panic etched into his expression.

“Jughead, what was that for?” she asked breathlessly - unsure why she was even asking because it was all that she had been wishing for. 

“Shit, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have… fuck,” he muttered, raking a hand through his hair anxiously. “I’m sorry, Betty. Please, just forget this ever happened,” he said, turning away from her and looking like he was about to sprint back down the hallway. 

“Jughead,” she said firmly, stopping him in his tracks. She quickly took the few steps forward to close the gap between them and pulled his face down to hers once more.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked! Please leave a comment <3

**Author's Note:**

> Leave me a comment and let me know whether you like?!


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